42-Unit “Aria” Coming to Downtown

Update 10/02/2023:

New Renderings were made available in Monday’s Architectural Review Board agenda:

Additionally, in an interview with the St. Louis Business Journal, the developer stated that price ranges for non-penthouse condos would range from $750,000 to $1.5 million. That’s a lot of dough, but if Kirkwood can stockpile 42 rich families on a single lot, it’ll be a service to the region.

Update 06/15/2023:

The Aria cleared its first major hurdle tonight at the council voted unanimously to approve the project’s pre-requisite zoning text amendment. That change will allow the development to forgo the mandatory Jefferson-facing retail the lot is zoned for in-stead of retail opening onto a corner plaza at the intersection of Taylor and Monroe. The council will vote on a site plan for the project itself at their next meeting July 6th, but this serves as a strong indication that they will approve of that plan and the project itself.

Update 06/07/2023:

On Thursday, the new 42-unit mixed-use project formerly known as the “Arts District” had its public hearing before City Council. Amongst the details revealed: new renderings, a new name, and one fewer parking spot. The newly named “Aria” received generally positive reviews from the Council, and both public comments were in favor. It was also revealed that curbside parking will be added in front of the project on Monroe for the first time. The first reading and vote on the zoning code change that the project requires (and thus the project itself) will be held at the June 15th Council meeting. The 2nd reading of the amendment and resolution on the development plan itself will occur at the July 6th meeting. The project also has a new website.

Original Story:

A new 42-unit, 5-story mixed-use condo building has been proposed for 132 E. Monroe in Downtown Kirkwood. The development, which has been preliminarily dubbed the “Arts District Mixed-Use Condominiums”, sits across Taylor from the Performing Arts Center and would replace a surface parking lot and a one-story University of Missouri extension building currently on site. It is unclear if the MU Extension plans to relocate or will permanently close. Core10 is the architect of the project, Mehlman Reality is the developer. Renderings were not included in the materials submitted to the Planning & Zoning board.

In addition to the 42 units, the plan also calls for 5,500 sf of ground-floor retail preliminarily divided into a 2,400 sf restaurant space and a 2,800 sf general retail space, both of which will face the public plaza in the northeast corner of the project. The restaurant is expected to use part of the plaza space for outdoor dining. The project also features a substantial, heavily landscaped setback along Monroe, which will require variance approval from the city.

In addition to the requested variance for street frontage, the project also requires approval for the consolidation of the six small parcels that make up the project’s footprint, as well as the outdoor dining component, which will require a separate vote before the Council. The project will first go before the P&Z Board on Wednesday, March 1st, and then will go to City Council for a public hearing and votes after a recommendation has been issued.

The Good

This project would undoubtedly advance Kirkwood’s progress toward both walkability and affordability. It would allow 42 more families to call Kirkwood home, and provide additional walkable retail and dining options for Kirkwood’s burgeoning Downtown population. It eliminates three curb cuts along Monroe (a total net of -1) and adds active public space that I suspect would be heavily used before and after KPAC events. And it accomplishes these things in a portion of Kirkwood that has seen, and will continue to see, a tremendous amount of investment in pedestrian safety. In short, this project is representative of the kinds of investments that Paul Ward promised would follow from the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center. I was doubtful of that proposition, but I’ve been proven wrong and I couldn’t be happier about it.

The Bad

That being said, there are certainly aspects of the project that I hope both P&Z and City Council push the developers to reconsider. While the project eliminates three curb cuts along Monroe, it also introduces two of its own along Taylor. Those two curb cuts fall directly next to the existing access road known as Kirkwood Place, making this stretch of Taylor particularly car-centric. In a vacuum, that might be fine, but South Taylor has a significant density of multi-family developments. Ideally you’d like for those residents to walk to the KPAC and the store/restaurant/plaza of this new development, but increasing the number of spots that cars get to legally drive over the sidewalk along that route makes that significantly less likely, especially for seniors living in the areas numerous retirement homes.

It would great if you instead could just use the existing curb cut created by Kirkwood Place, but that street is wholly owned by Greentree Church, not the city. I think it would be a tremendous positive for everyone involved if Greentree and the developers could come to some sort of agreement allowing the project to utilize the access road in exchange for agreeing to help pay for its upkeep. The church wouldn’t have to fully fund the road’s maintenance and would be helping the community its parishioners call home, the developers would be able to put more of their building’s footprint towards productive uses, and the community would be rendered safer and more walkable. If this isn’t workable, then I’d push the developers to cut their curb cuts from two down to one. Suffice it to say there’s plenty of room for improvement here if the council is looking to make the project better.

There are other things too. I don’t love the random mid-block setback from an urbanism perspective, but I suppose it’s probably meant to bring more natural light into the units. I also would love for there to be less parking. 84 spots for residents is a lot. Then when you add the additional 29 public parking spots the project includes, it edges towards regrettable. On the one hand, I get it. KPAC went with a lower number of parking spots so you get a lot of spillover parking on the adjacent streets, including some that blocks bike lanes. The retail portion of this project will then add even more to that demand on nights where there are shows, so providing some public parking here makes sense. But two private spots per residential unit feels less than ideal, especially next to the Grant’s Trail extension. That being said, only 1.5 units per residential unit is required Downtown, so this isn’t the city’s fault, it’s the market’s.

The Verdict

Overall, this project is good and deserves approval, and I think is very likely to get it. The variances it requires are small, and even if denied, the project would be viable without them. If the Council is going to coerce an improvement to the plan out of the developers in exchange for approval, I would push really hard to consolidate the vehicular entry/exit down to one curb cut. In any case, I think Kirkwood is poised to take another big step forward.