Divided aldermen reject mall apartment project

Adam Rollins, Staff Writer
Posted 10/27/22

A proposal to build a four-story apartment building at the Shoppes at Warrenton mall has been rejected by the Warrenton Board of Aldermen, who were not persuaded by a new round of statements about …

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Divided aldermen reject mall apartment project

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A proposal to build a four-story apartment building at the Shoppes at Warrenton mall has been rejected by the Warrenton Board of Aldermen, who were not persuaded by a new round of statements about the benefit and need for the project.

Aldermen voted 4-2 on Oct. 18 to deny a request to rezone 3 acres of land at the mall from their current classification to a zoning that would allow the 99-unit apartment building. Citizen advisors on the city’s planning and zoning commission had recommended rejection because of a desire to preserve the commercial use of that land, and concerns that all the needs of the apartments couldn’t be met in the confined space being allotted to them.

Representatives of Raul Walters Properties, the company that owns the mall, unsuccessfully attempted to turn around the momentum for the project during the board of aldermen’s public meeting last week. Their primary argument was that building the apartments would enhance the economic success of the rest of the mall by placing customers and amenities right next to each other.

“(The city) has in its plan that you want to rethink retail and commercial. Let’s do that,” commented Jaimie Mansfield, an attorney working with Raul Walters Properties on the project. “Your comprehensive plan ... asks you to be strategic in looking at your retail and commercial development. 

“Your partnership with this developer allowed them to take the Shoppes from zero-percent occupancy to nearly 75 percent. Now you have the same developer asking you to see the win-win here,” Mansfield added.

Real estate agency Tony Gagliano, who helps connect the mall with retail tenants, told aldermen that “mixed-use” developments with apartments, stores and restaurants are seeing vibrant success in other nearby cities. Doing the same in Warrenton could help fill the rest of the empty storefronts and undeveloped land at the mall, he predicted.

“A mixed-use development is a desired product in today’s retail world,” said Gagliana, citing recent developments in Wentzville and St. Louis County where housing and shopping have mutually enhanced one another. “Think about if you wanted to open up a restaurant and you knew you had between 100 to 200 residents that could walk over  on a regular basis.”

The project also received support from Kent Hicks, one of the original partners in the mall’s construction 30 years ago.

“Something has to change. We’ve done it for 30 years the same way, and in today’s economic reality, it doesn’t work,” Hicks said. He commented that Veterans Memorial Parkway is a fine place for apartments, and that having more housing would also help drive down increasing rental prices in the area.

Despite that advocacy, several aldermen were skeptical of the idea that apartments inside the mall property are necessary for continued improvements there. The most vocal was Alderman Jeff Jaspering, who questioned why active housing construction throughout the rest of Warrenton wouldn’t serve the same purpose.

Alderman Larry Corder, on the other hand, said he actually likes the project, but that he is unsettled by a pending request from Raul Walters for tax breaks to help reduce the cost of construction. The developer has said the tax reduction is necessary to move forward with the project, but Corder said he doesn’t want to go down “a slippery slope” of granting similar requests to every other apartment developer.

The vote on the project ended up being split, with Warrenton’s two longest-serving aldermen, Scott Schulze and Gary Miller, voting in favor of the development. Aldermen Jack Crump, Larry Corder, Jeff Jaspering and Steven Cullom voted against.

Warrenton Board of Aldermen, Shoppes at Warrenton mall, Apartments, Raul Walters Properties

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