Planners seek new vitality for Jamestown Mall
ST. Louis Post-Dispatch
September 22, 2010
By Margaret Gillerman
Jamestown Mall's 1.25 million square feet once bustled with shops and shoppers. Today, weeds grow through cracks in the near-empty parking lot. Inside, only a few people walk the long, wide corridors.
Almost half the storefronts are vacant. Analysts say the mall has twice as much square footage as its area's population can support.
Talk of a solution has turned drastic. Some even say it's time to tear the place down and start over.
After more than a year of study by national experts and an intensive week of public meetings, a consultant hired by the St. Louis County Economic Council has tentatively recommended keeping the two successful anchors -- a J.C. Penney Outlet and Macy's -- and demolishing the rest to be replaced with a mixed-use "village." It could contain shops and boutiques, restaurants, housing, offices, a park and perhaps a large amphitheater.
Pamela Stacy, who heads the project for the consultants, Dover, Kohl & Partners, of Coral Gables, Fla., said, "We know we want to create a village center instead of a large single use building" like the mall. "We're focusing more on the form because the uses can change depending on market conditions."
The final form, she said, "will depend on what the market will bear -- and on what will do well at that location and what the community wants."
Nancy Schnoebelen, a spokeswoman for the St. Louis County Economic Council, said the tentative plan is "the first step in a long process to save a dying mall." Before anything happens, she said, "everybody has to be on board."
Jamestown Mall opened with fanfare in 1973 as a regional shopping center to serve north St. Louis County and some Illinois customers. The mid-1990s saw renovation, expansion and the opening of a movie theater. But by late 2008, the vacancy rate was 44 percent.
Its redevelopment is a top priority for the St. Louis County government, which wants to bring jobs to North County. The mall is in an unincorporated area of far North County known as "Old Jamestown," at Lindbergh Boulevard and Old Jamestown Road.
Mike Jones, senior policy adviser for County Executive Charlie Dooley, said county government must be a "first responder" for what he called a "large obsolete suburban property."
"It never will be a million-plus-square-foot mall again," Jones said. "The population density is not there." Moreover, there are sinkholes nearby, he noted, but not interstate highways.
"If it's going to be successful, it probably will include some residential options as well as major public uses," he said, suggested the job will require 'some kind of public-private partnership." A consultant said senior housing was a strong possibility.
The intervention began last year, when the county asked the non-profit Urban Land Institute, based in Washington, to do a study. An institute panel, with experts from around the country, reported "virtually deserted concourses" and "an almost empty food court ... with fewer than a half dozen shoppers in all."
A conference a year ago proposed razing the mall and replacing it with "Lindbergh Place" as "a town center to fit today's consumer needs."
The institute's report led the economic council to hire Dover Kohl to conduct hearings and fill in specifics. It invited the public to see and react to some of the ideas Sept. 9-14 at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley. People made a range of suggestions, including a miniature golf course, large aquarium, green trails, dog boutiques and a church. The consultants also talked to property owners at the mall, potential developers and community leaders and reviewed previous studies.
"We asked designers, economists and civil engineers to look, and for the county to say whether we are getting it right," Stacy said. "We got a pretty positive response."
The mall's property owners today are Sears, Macy's, J.C. Penney, developer Michael Kohan and Carlyle Development Group. They have been monitoring the early stages but have not publicly expressed any opinions.
The tentative plan for a mixed-use village center project would have some attributes of New Town St. Charles. Some may see resemblances to Seaside, Fla., the idyllic community portrayed in the movie "The Truman Show."
Dover Kohl plans to present a report on market conditions by the end of the year. Stacy said that any dramatic change or rebuilding would likely take five years or more to begin, given the economy. In the end, she said, "It will be a stark contrast to what is at the mall today."
