Mid Rivers Newsmagazine 5-18-22

10 I NEWS I
May 18, 2022
MID RIVERS NEWSMAGAZINE
@MIDRIVERSNEWS
MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE.COM
Riverpointe continues to move forward with new lead developer
By JOHN TREMMEL
The Riverpointe, Bangert Island and
Katy Trail areas just south of Interstate 70
in the city of Saint Charles, along the western
bank of the Missouri River, have visibly
and significantly changed during the past
six months – and changes will continue
over the next 12 to 18 months. Another
aspect of Riverpointe that has changed
significantly is that CRG has taken over
the lead for development of Phase I and
Phase III. A nationwide large developer
headquartered in St. Louis, with a total of
seven offices across North America, CRG
is Clayco’s development company.
The overall Riverpointe development
starts at the south lot line of the Drury
Plaza Hotel at the Streets of St. Charles,
where the two-story parking structure
ends and continues south to the Family
Arena. As originally envisioned, it is to be
a mixed-use development that, according
to the city, “will entail building parking,
retail, restaurants, office space, entertainment
and multifamily dwellings.” It predicts
that once development is completed it
will “provide roughly 4,000 jobs, increase
the annual visitors by a million people, and
produce an annual revenue of an estimated
$1.5 billion.”
But progress on the development has
been slow.
While it wasn’t until 2018 that Saint
Charles first sought funding for the Riverpointe
project, the city had begun its efforts
to reinvigorate the 1.6 miles of riverfront
located south of I-70 to the Family Arena
in 2008. In that early effort, the city partnered
with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
to do “extensive river modeling and
hydraulic design to ensure that the project
will improve both the economic activity of
the region and the environmental resources
along the Missouri River.”
Originally, the river restoration plan
called for creating a water-quality basin at
the outflow of Crystal Springs Creek and
elevating over 100 acres above the 500-
year floodplain. Additionally, the Corps of
Engineers had planned to remove decades
of sediment deposits from a side chute of
the Missouri River that had essentially tied
the 160-acre Bangert Island, currently a
St. Charles County park, to the St. Charles
riverfront. As a result, Bangert Island
would become an island once more. Those
measures were expected to prevent the
catastrophic flooding experienced by the
area in recent years. However, that plan
changed over time to one that would raise
the entire Riverpointe project above the
floodplain, enhancing the area’s existing
habitat and foregoing the creation of the
water-quality basin.
Pilings are being poured for future development at Riverpointe
Early on the city also sought to reconstruct
what it referred to as an “existing
inadequate roadway infrastructure
located along Arena Parkway which runs
the perimeter of the project, [and] create
stormwater control and protection from
the Missouri River.”
To do so, the city proposed the creation
of:
• 4 miles of new roadway, including an
extension of Lombard Street from South
Main Street, which borders the Streets of
St. Charles, to a roundabout to be built
along the edge of the water quality basin,
and the construction of a new loop road
connecting Old South River Road to the
Lombard Street roundabout.
• 5.8 miles of reconstructed roadway,
including improvements to the existing
Old South River Road.
• 14 miles of new ADA accessible sidewalks.
• 1.6 miles of new or improved trails,
including raising the Katy Trail to an elevation
above the 500-year floodplain.
• 1.6 miles of new transit facilities,
including a trolley connection from the
development to the St. Charles Area Transit
[SCAT] hub, located at Clark Street and
Riverside Drive in historic St. Charles.
• 100 acres of high-value development
area elevated above the floodplain, creating
6.7 million square feet of usable space.
Some of those improvements have happened
and some continue to be under construction
and the water basin, which was
taken off the drawing board by the city in
2020, is back on.
CRG Director of Development Natasha
Das, who handles the day-to-day requirements
of CRG’s real estate developments
from site selection to stabilization,
explained that the company is “working
on the initial phase of infrastructure during
this time, including filling, grading and
(John Tremmel photo)
paving the Lombard Street and Old South
River Road extensions, and extending
utilities.”
“We anticipate that Chicken N Pickle
will be open by fourth quarter ‘22 or early
2023,” she added.
Chicken N Pickle is the first brick and
mortar to be confirmed for Riverpointe.
The Kansas City-based company currently
has six locations in Missouri, Kansas and
Texas and anticipates opening three more
venues in late 2022, including the Riverpointe
facility.
According to its website, “Chicken N
Pickle Saint Charles will be equipped with
bars, pavilions, multiple dining areas on
the main floor and a rooftop dining experience,
along with outdoor tables for guests
to enjoy. The venue will feature numerous
indoor and outdoor pickleball courts,
shuffleboard and Bocce ball courts, and a
variety of lawn games.”
Asked what else might be completed by
the first and second quarter of 2023, Das
responded that CRG is currently in discussions
with various other potential users;
however, at this time they are focusing
Rendering of the projected development of Riverpointe
on the project’s extensive infrastructure
updates.
While mostly seen as positive, those
updates have caused concern for users
of the Katy Trail, which runs through
the development area along the Missouri
River. Relocation of the trail and changes
to the habitat which surround it have been
a hot button for many residents and environmental
groups. Currently, the trail has
detours around sections near the Blanchette
(I-70) Bridge to the south and past
Bangert Island to near Friedens Road.
“The Katy Trail is still open,” Das said,
“but we anticipate being complete with
the Katy Trail relocations approximately
24 months after receipt of the remaining
approvals.”
Regarding the lake feature, Das
explained that it provides essential benefits
to the area, such as:
• Improving water quality by removing
pollutants that would eventually reach the
Missouri River.
• Providing flood relief along Crystal
Springs Creek.
• Achieving environmental restoration
that creates biodiversity and habitat lift.
• Providing an aquatic recreational feature
for Bangert Island Park.
With the future development of Riverpointe
transferred to CRG, the city of Saint
Charles is in the process of updating its
website in regard to the project and deferring
all inquiries to the company.
According to its website, CRG has developed
$13 billion in assets, 10,000 acres of
land, and 210 million square feet in projects
during the 29 years since its founding.
The company is privately held, with
reported $755 million revenue in 2021. In
addition to Riverpointe, CRG is developing
or has developed Wildhorse Village in
Chesterfield, Chapter at the Streets in the
Streets of St. Charles, Everly on the Loop
(Delmar) in St. Louis and Delmar DiVine
in St. Louis.
(Source: CRG)