St. Peters Board of Aldermen Accepts Proposal
for Lakeside 370 Property
The St. Peters Board of Aldermen Thursday approved a joint development agreement with Kaplan Development and Investment for the property at the site of the St. Peters Lakeside 370 Business Park project. The agreement is expected to be finalized later this summer. The Board of Aldermen also passed a number of other ordinances related to the project, including an agreement for consulting services for the design of a master concept plan for the Lakeside 370 Park and an agreement for the construction of the levee to protect the Lakeside 370 Business Park project. All the items on tonight’s agenda regarding the Lakeside 370 project passed by a vote of six yes, one no and one absent.
While the final sale of the property is being completed, city officials are anticipating that the city will obtain permit approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to build a levee to protect the property.
Last month, St. Peters officials received two offers to buy the property from 1) Kaplan and 2) the Great Rivers Habitat Alliance (GRHA). This was the second proposal the City received from GRHA, including an offer previously rejected in 2004. Prior to receiving the Kaplan offer, St. Peters officials sent a letter to the GRHA on May 26, 2005 seeking more information regarding their proposal to buy the land, but did not receive any official GRHA response to that inquiry. In addition, earlier this year, numerous developers indicating their support for or interest in involvement with the Lakeside 370 project approached city officials (see City news release dated February 2, 2005).
In April 2000, more than 67% of St. Peters voters approved the bonds for the land purchase and levee construction of the Lakeside 370 project. The project, envisioned as a development similar to Earth City with an adjacent 300-acre public park and 140-acre lake, will take an estimated 15-20 years to completely build out and will bring an estimated 6,000-10,000 permanent jobs, millions of man hours of construction trades jobs and millions of dollars in annual tax revenue to the area taxing districts and the City of St. Peters.
Mayor Shawn Brown and the Board of Aldermen were very pleased with the successful proposal and the return on investment for City taxpayers:
Mayor Shawn Brown
“Leonard Kaplan is our knight in shining armor and I am supporting this deal. Although I never wanted the city to get into the development or real estate
business, I believe this is an excellent outcome for our taxpayers.”
Board President Terry Hawkins-Ward 1
“As I have told the aldermen along the way through this unbelievable battle, good things happen to good people. I feel very proud that we as a Board took the direction that the voters gave us, regardless of the confrontations along the way. We stuck it out and were able to make this outstanding project a great success for our residents. Once again, I would like to thank the voters for their support and for the strength of our fellow aldermen who didn’t waver and were always there for the long haul along with our great City Administrator Bill Charnisky and our staff members who put in so many hours to make this project come together.”
Board Vice President Jerry Hollingsworth-Ward 2
“The residents are going to win with this deal because it’s going to generate a profit for the City and that has been our intent all along—to create revenue for the City of St. Peters. This particular deal is going to make it happen even quicker. Because a professional developer is purchasing the land, we should be able to see the sales tax revenue and property tax revenue come to us quicker than by us selling the property off a little bit at a time over the next 10-15 years as the land parcels are purchased.”
Alderman John “Rocky” Reitmeyer-Ward 1
“I’m glad we’re continuing to move forward with this and I’m excited about this new opportunity for our residents. It’s something we’ve all been looking forward to and it will be great for the future of our city, continuing our outstanding city services and hopefully reducing taxes. I’m excited about the thousands of new permanent jobs that will come to our City and putting construction trades workers to work building the levee and the project, and I can’t wait to go fishing with my kids on our new lake in our new park.”
Alderman David Hayes-Ward 2
“I’m very pleased that we have put together such an outstanding outcome for our residents. This should answer so many of the skeptics who criticized the City calling this a ‘risky scheme,’ demanding we ignore the direction of our voters. We’ve now proved that the voters know what’s right. They approved this project and now the voters are going to reap the benefits of this project over the next two decades and beyond.”
Alderman Bruce Holt-Ward 3
“I am proud that we as Aldermen have had the courage to stand by our convictions in the face of the enormously high-financed and mostly non-resident opposition to this project. Our voters showed their confidence in this project more than five years ago and it has been our challenge as elected officials to get the job done for our residents. I truly appreciate all the phone calls, comments, and e-mails of support I have received from our St. Peters residents. The return on this investment will benefit our citizens for years to come.”
Alderman Len Pagano-Ward 3
“Back in the early 70’s the city flag logo was the rising star of St. Peters. Today, that star is still rising higher due to so many pieces of the puzzle that make our city stand out there and glisten. Now, with the sale of the Lakeside 370 property, this major piece of the puzzle will make me want to shout these words—I am so proud to live in St. Peters!”
Alderman Bob Morrison-Ward 4
“As I said at the time of our last meeting, I was very hopeful that we would have a positive result for our taxpayers and I am very pleased to see our hopes being realized. It looks like our steadfast actions and resolve are benefiting our residents, and that is what this has always been about—serving our City and benefiting our residents.”
