In December of 2019, it was shared that LuxLiving was planning a 160-unit apartment building and 133 room hotel on the site at Delcrest Drive and Delmar Boulevard (8400 Delmar) at Interstate 170. Since then, the project has been completely re-designed and the scope has been changed.
The Element Hotel portion, which was planned to be 6-stories in height, was dumped for a 9-story, 133 room (unchanged) hotel whose brand has yet to be named. The apartment portion has grown from 5-stories to 8-stories and is now 252 units (an increase of 92 units). The project has also picked up an 8-story parking garage with 435 spaces. The parking garage was originally supposed to be 2-stories, so the garage was supersized but everything has been condensed on the site.
Instead of the buildings being short and spread out over the entire site, the new plan has everything condensed close to Delmar and Delcrest while a third of the site will be parking. The garage, and a portion of the apartment building, will border the private street that runs along the highway.
You can compare the new site plan with the old below. The new site plan is the first picture. Old is the second.
Just like before, no cost estimate or timeline have been provided.
The University City Planning Commission document reveals some more information about the project though. The facade materials will be brick, fiber cement panels, and glass. The first floor, fronting Delmar, will feature windows, and a restaurant space with a patio. The entrance to the hotel and apartments will be on Delcrest off of a Circle Drive. Finally, the tallest portion of the buildings will stand at 120ft.
The Planning Commission recommends approval for the development based on...
Conditional Use Permit approving shared parking prior to final plan approval.
Lot Consolidation Required As Part of the Subdivision Process
Density and FAR Ratios Conditioned
Phasing Plan and Timeline Be Provided Prior To Final Plan Approval
The project's name is "The McKenzie". The development will replace a 5-story office building and shopping plaza, known as "Delcrest Plaza". The developer, as said at the beginning, is LuxLiving, who has done projects such as Tribeca, Chelsea, Steelyard, and the Bordeaux but also have a pipeline featuring the Soho, and the Hudson. The architect is VE Design Group and BE Creative LLC.
More Major Projects Nearby
Just across I-170, and on Delmar, a different developer is planning a 5-story, 254-unit apartment complex with 537 parking spaces. That project will be known as "Avenir". The developer is Gateco Development and the architect is Gray Architects. Gateco owns the neighboring Gatesworth Senior Living community.
So between Avenir and McKenzie, there will be approximately 506 new apartments, 133 hotel rooms, and 972 parking spaces within a short distance of each other on the Western edge of University City.
The Avenir is rendered below.
One exit north of Delmar on 170, which is Olive Boulevard, KDG and Keat Properties have started construction on "Olive Crossing". That development will consist of up to 50,000sf of retail space, over 300,000sf of office space, a 160 room dual-brand Marriott hotel, and plenty of parking. Olive Crossing is in Olivette.
Just across I-170, Novus Group is planning a massive project that will see several buildings demolished to make way for a Costco, retail space, restruuann space, apartments, a food hall and parking. This project is advancing. I am not aware if the project scope has changed but if it has, someone please let me know. These renderings are from May 2019.
All of these projects sit along the envisioned MetroLink expansion to Westport Plaza. While we haven't heard much about that expansion for sometime, these projects would all benefit from a branch of the MetroLink. Maybe not a full line expansion, but a 2 or 3 station extension Northward along the 170-corridor would be beneficial.
Regardless, the 170 corridor is going to change a bit over the next few years and the changes will bring a mixture of usages.
UPDATE: 12/16/2020
LuxLiving has seemingly dumped the hotel portion of this project and the overall scope has been shrunk as well. The project will now be solely apartments in a 5-story building. The current unit count is 252 units. The new building design retains a similar design to the previous proposal, just it was shortened. Retail/restaurant space was also dialed back to be a 750sf bistro instead of a 4000sf restaurant. VE Design Group is still the architect and the project name is still "The McKenzie".
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