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Hotel project moves forward, despite objections
(by Mitch Schneider - June 18, 2008)
After a series of tweaks to accommodate concerns of both residential and institutional neighbors, RJ York’s plan for a 23-story hotel and condo tower in Clayton has been given the go-ahead by the city’s Plan Commission.
At a meeting on June 2, the Clayton Plan Commission approved a two-part land-development plan for the project: a high-rise tower at the southwest corner of Central and Maryland avenues and a parking garage at the northwest corner of the intersection. Both buildings would also include street-level retail.
Plans show the project being done in two phases, with the garage and attached retail built first and the tower following in a second phase. However, “there will be no garage without the hotel,” said Robert Kramer, a partner at RJ York.
Kramer said York has been in talks with Starwood Hotels about bringing its Westin brand to the city.
To build the hotel, York would raze an existing building. The company has owned the property it needs — an office tower that contains Sansai and Il Vicino restaurants on the ground floor — for more than a year. Kramer said what’s there now is “an old, dilapidated office structure” and that his company wants to “bring a grand structure to the corner.”
At previous meetings, attendees and Plan Commission members had expressed concerns about such issues as the project’s size, its effect on traffic flow, potential light pollution and the impact on Graybar Electric, a neighboring business, as well as St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and residents in the Old Town Clayton area.
“They are legitimate concerns,” said Tyler Stephens, an architect with Core10 Architecture, the firm that is working on the project. He listed ways in which the plans have been changed over the past months to address these concerns:
• the support beams in the garage have been repositioned to help reduce the amount of light escaping from the garage;
• the garage has been made smaller and its position moved, “wedging” it into a small hill to its northern side. This will increase by more than 20 feet the size of the gap between the garage and a condominium complex just to the north. The end of the garage will line up with a pair of currently existing markers, leaving a clear indicator of where the business district ends and where the residential area begins;
• the concerns raised by St. Joseph’s about accessibility issues have been addressed with plans to build a bridge from the garage to the church. The bridge will be level with the floor of St. Joseph’s sanctuary.
Adjustments have also been included that address Graybar’s objections, but the company remains unhappy with the proposal. The tower would back Graybar’s headquarters at 24 N. Meramec Ave.
Matthew Geekie, deputy general counsel for Graybar, said that at no point has he been approached by anyone representing RJ York.
Stephens, York’s architect, said that he had made project changes relating to Graybar based on comments that Geekie made at previous meetings.
Stephens said that plans for the tower have been revised to increase the width of the alleys serving the tower by cutting back the building four feet, thus allowing better access for delivery trucks and other vehicles. He also said that the tower would be pulled back from Graybar, leaving a 30-foot gap between the tower and Graybar. The first two floors of the tower complex would feature a patron drop-off area, retail space and the hotel lobby; the tower featuring the hotel rooms and condos would begin on the third floor, the bottom level of the set-back tower.
Geekie said that despite the changes, his company still opposes the project. The overriding concern is increased traffic and access to Graybar’s garage on Maryland Avenue.
Catherine Powers, Clayton’s director of planning and development services, said that a traffic study completed by a consultant indicated that there would be “minimal negative impact on traffic” caused by the project.
The Plan Commission approached the proposal with cautious optimism.
Steve Lichtenfeld, alderman for the 3rd Ward and a Plan Commission member, acknowledged the ongoing efforts of York’s team but emphasized the need to get it right.
“This is the most critical juncture in the city between the business and residential communities, and we need to make it work for both sides,” he said. “Traffic is still a major problem, but the incursions [into the residential area] seem to be much less. There have been many modifications made to minimize the effect on the neighbors.”
Harold Sanger, chairman of the commission, noted that both the Plan Commission and the Board of Aldermen have turned down other proposals for the area over the years. Under the amended design, the garage is not an incursion into Old Town Clayton but a buffer, he said.
Giving support to the project, but expressing a desire for further discussion, was Monsignor John Shamleffer of St. Joseph’s. Under the plan, the church would sell or lease its surface parking lot to allow the garage to be built and would gain access to spots within the new garage. But at the moment the church still has ownership of its lot, Shamleffer said.
The church has participated in talks with York regarding the project for two years, and there is the potential for a win-win situation, he said. The historic church has accessibility issues that could be resolved if the garage is built with a bridge that connects to the church.
Shamleffer said that if the project proceeds through the city’s approval process, it will be presented for discussion to the entire parish.
He also indicated that he has received what he describes as “nasty” e-mails about the project, accusing the church of being a “bad neighbor.” When asked, Shamleffer did not indicate if the e-mails had come from parishioners, Clayton residents or another party; he said that they were “private” and said “I addressed them.”
Before the project gets final approval, it must go before the Board of Aldermen.
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