There were many ideas put forth Monday, November 27 for the million-plus square feet of property in North County that used to be Jamestown Mall – but the same old mall was not one of them.
“I’m looking for more upscale restaurants, places for us to go instead of traveling to West County and Clayton and Downtown,” Erica Bumpers said – “maybe a movie theatre, similar to what they have at St. Charles.”
“That’s it – pretty much what she said,” her friend said, as another lady nodded in agreement.
For those not inclined to visit the Galleria or to head west, they shop via the internet.
“Right now, most of it is online,” one resident and shop owner said.
“I am more of a T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s girl,” another chimed in.
“I am too – and we have only a Marshall’s and not a T.J. Maxx. They took it away.”
The St. Louis County Port Authority, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership and St. Louis County held an open house at the Detrick Building at Christian Hospital to present a visual overview of the Jamestown Mall site and surrounding area, including community demographics, tasks the Port Authority wants developers to perform, and to seek public input on the next steps.
Many are looking for some type of mixed-use development – higher-end retail, senior housing, a decent hotel, entertainment and recreational activities. Some want manufacturing to bring in jobs to take the strain off the existing tax base. Others just want to see something, almost anything other than letting the site continue to deteriorate.
Sheila Sweeney, CEO of the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, said this is a first step to finding out what the community wants.
“Hopefully also developers will realize that the process is really starting and to bring all of that together so that we can take the next steps to get this mall redeveloped,” Sweeney said. “We don’t have any preconceived notions as to what will happen.”
However, she did say she does not think it will become solely a retail site. “Malls are not the future,” Sweeney said.
Many attendees completed blue sheets of paper to prioritize what they thought was most important to the site and to add additional comments beyond what options were listed on the comment form.
“I knew we would have a lot of people here because they have a lot of interest in this and want to see something happen,” St. Louis County Councilwoman Rochelle Walton Gray said. “They don’t want to just see it torn down. They want to see something productive happen with the property.”
She said her constituents have been speaking to her about what they would like Jamestown to become.
“They want to see something unique to the area – they don’t want the same department stores or Dollar Stores, things like that. They want something more high-end – not extremely high-end, like a [Nordstom] Rack, stores like that.” Walton Gray said. “They’d like to see stores that are boutiques – a little area like they have across from the Galleria would be nice.” She said they also want some nice restaurants and a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe’s.
Sweeney said in the next couple of weeks, the Port Authority will finalize the purchase of the final parcel at Jamestown and will own the entire site outright. Kelvin Baucom, owner of Baucom’s Precious Memories Services, who operates out of a small outer building site on Old Jamestown Road, plans to purchase it and an adjacent building on two acres from the Port Authority so he can stay on site.
He and several people who came to the open house said they were expecting something different than what was actually presented at the open house.
“What I am seeing is basically a walk-through, people kind of getting knowledge and information on what is available,” Baucom said. “There are no concrete decisions made on what actually is going to happen to this mall, so we are still kind of up in the air.”
Baucom said he would like to see a mixed-use development with restaurants, hotels, a community center and maybe some senior housing.
Others want the perception of North St. Louis County to change along with the site.
“It starts with the school system,” Bumpers said. “It needs to start with our neighborhoods”
With a request for proposals going out to developers by the end of the year, Sweeney said it may be early- to mid-spring before proposals are in for review.
“I think we ought to be able to make a decision within the year, and we ought to be able to turn dirt a year from now,” Sweeney said.
Residents, business owners and interested parties can make their preferences known and can keep up with action regarding the Jamestown site by visiting www.stlouisco.com/jamestown.
