Thirteen years ago, an ambitious plan to turn the intersection of Manchester and Kirkwood Road into a second walkable downtown fizzled, leaving behind an auto-oriented CVS and a Fresh Thyme grocery store. Now that long-stalled neighborhood may be getting a second chance.
Debrecht Properties and their partners, CORE10 Architects, will go before the Planning & Zoning Committee tonight, Wednesday, June 17th, seeking to rezone twelve parcels at the intersection of Sarah Avenue and North Kirkwood Road — currently zoned B-3 (Highway Business) and R-4 (single-family) — as R-5 multifamily.
If the rezoning succeeds, Debrecht and CORE10 say they intend to build first on the two eastern corners of the intersection. The northeast corner (1000 N Kirkwood Rd) would become 26 condos, and the southeast corner (960 N Kirkwood Rd) a 12-condo building — each maxing out the density R-5 allows outside of Downtown. Both buildings would stand three stories tall, with two underground parking spaces per home.
The rezoning itself would cover all twelve parcels, raising the area’s zoned housing capacity by 65 homes once the three houses currently on the lots are subtracted. The buildout would come in phases: the 38 condos on the eastern corners first, then — as a potential Phase II — the northwest corner (1001 N Kirkwood Rd). That 2.2-acre parcel could hold roughly 30 more condos under R-5, with the developers deciding whether to proceed based on the demand the first phase generates.
Walkability
If built, these homes would — somewhat counterintuitively — be among Kirkwood’s least car-dependent. Neither Kirkwood Road nor Manchester is especially pedestrian-friendly today, yet the 38 homes would sit within:
- a three-minute walk of a grocery store (Fresh Thyme),
- a three-minute walk of a pharmacy (CVS),
- a nine-minute walk of the neighborhood elementary school (Tillman), and
- a three-minute walk of bus stops serving the #49 (to the airport and Downtown Kirkwood) and the #57 (to Downtown Maplewood and the Maplewood–Manchester MetroLink station)
The project would build on recent city efforts to calm the corridor, including the new 30 mph speed limit on Manchester. Any future site plan approval would also trigger sidewalk infill along West Maple and West Sarah, and likely new street trees. A new Kirkwood Road crossing would be a welcome addition, but this stretch is maintained by MoDOT, so the city has little leverage there.
The Eradication of Kirkwood’s Worst Zoning District
When these properties first hit the market a few months ago, I had little hope for them. They carried the same curse that has doomed so many promising parcels before them: a B-3 Highway Business designation.
B-3 requires buildings to sit at least 50 feet back from the front lot line, and corner lots to set back 50 feet from both streets (a “minor street” frontage can drop to 35 feet — but still). In practice, the only even semi-productive thing you can build under those rules is a strip mall fronted by a surface parking lot. It’s exactly how the now-shuttered small urgent care building came to be the only structure on the southwest corner of the Sarah / Kirkwood intersection.
The B-3 district is now largely constrained to lots fronting Manchester (and the little spur extending down North Kirkwood Road that this article is focused on):
And then, in southern Kirkwood, a few stretches along Big Bend, one lot fronting Woodbine, and the four lots along S. Kirkwood Rd between Nipher and Rose Hill:
These remaining B-3 lots are either strip-mall developments fronted by parking, or older buildings grandfathered in at smaller setbacks. Where the latter are occasionally charming (see: the buildings next to Nipher), they’re charming in spite of their zoning: rebuild or substantially alter one, and it must be pulled back to the 50-foot line.
In short, B-3 is counterproductive red tape. It costs the city tax base, it makes the corridor uglier, and it holds existing owners hostage to setbacks they could never rebuild under. It’s the reason the prominent former Doc’s Harley-Davidson corner can’t become anything worthwhile. The City Council would do the whole city a favor by striking B-3 from the code and replacing it with almost anything else. This rezoning is worth approving on its own, but a single text amendment could lift those setbacks from every B-3 lot in Kirkwood at once.
Gateway at Kirkwood
This latest effort comes more than a decade after a previous attempt to remake the dealership-choked intersection — the Gateway at Kirkwood — fell apart. The proposal from NOVUS —modeled largely on another project of theirs, the Market at McKnight—would have consisted of 65 apartments, 22 townhomes, a 100-unit retirement facility, Fresh Thyme grocery, CVS, a bank, and tens of thousands of square feet of additional retail space.
While the density of this development plan was quite substantial, the planning elements remained very auto-oriented with all structures—aside from the townhomes— setback from the street and fronted by surface parking lots. This plan encountered significant local resistance and it too was scrapped, with only the Manchester-facing commercial, Fresh Thyme and CVS elements—which were allowed by right—ever coming to fruition.
The reduced development failed to catalyze any further economic growth in the region. The urgent care went up on the southwest corner, then closed; the other three corners Debrecht is now pursuing still sit empty.
It would be great to see the city finally seize this opportunity. New homes give prospective Kirkwood residents more options and help ease costs across the market. They also generate new property tax revenue for the city, schools, and library — and every time those residents shop at Fresh Thyme, CVS, or Downtown Kirkwood, they generate sales tax revenue too. This is a win for existing residents, future residents, and the city alike, and I hope to see the rezoning supported as such.
After tonight’s hearing, the Planning & Zoning Committee will vote on the proposal at its next scheduled meeting on July 15th. And then we’re going to need your help. Stay posted.