ST. LOUIS - Development of 'Downtown Chesterfield' is on the move again after the Chesterfield city council voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow the development for the replacement of Chesterfield Mall to be built.
Developer The Staenberg Group is poised to tear down the old mall to build an over 2,500 space apartment, plus offices and retail space for large business.
"A lot of steps and a lot of things got to happen, but this was a important big step last night," said Chesterfield Mayor Bob Nation.
The Chesterfield Mall has been a staple for many Chesterfield residents when it first opened in 1976, and with the closing of the Northwest Plaza in 2010, it was the largest shopping mall in the St. Louis-Area.
In the beginning on of 2020, Staenberg Group announced plans to overhaul the mall to be a mixed-use development with condos, apartments, offices and retail.
In 2021, vacant parts of the mall began to be repurposed for indoor community sports and other "eclectic tenants".
There were a few roadblocks before the vote Tuesday night, including one residential group was concerned of the density of the residential area. That concern delayed the process another three weeks.
"I think those concerns were alleviated and modifications were made to reduce the amount of residential," said Nation.
Nation says although he's excited to see a new downtown-area, there are no plans at the moment to move city hall or the police department into the new area dubbed 'Downtown Chesterfield'.
The Steanberg Group previously told KMOX they want to create 'something that nobody else has done' on the land, which is about the size of Clayton, Missouri.
"We're really going to try to create something that's unique to, not only the St Louis region, but the entire Mid-West," says developer Michael Staenberg of the group to Total Information A.M. in July.
Work still isn't finished on the project as plans on how the company would tear down the old Chesterfield Mall still need to be approved by the council.
Demolition of the complex could happen as early as next year.
