UNIVERSITY CITY — A nondescript, midcentury office building at the southeast corner of Interstate 170 and Delmar Boulevard would be razed to make way for a development with 160 apartments and a 133-room hotel under a proposal endorsed Thursday by the city’s plan commission.
It’s yet another proposal from quickly growing apartment developer LuxLiving, which has developed and built hundreds of apartment units in recent years, mostly in the popular St. Louis neighborhoods of Soulard and Skinker-DeBaliviere. Plans went public this week that the firm was working to develop a $68 million, 300-unit apartment building near Soulard Market.
The University City proposal, branded the McKenzie, would be Lux’s first major new development outside the city limits and also its first venture beyond strictly apartments.
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“LuxLiving is elated to lock down this highly visible location right off the highway in U. City — at the entrance to Clayton and Ladue — really the first viable exit for people heading into town from (St. Louis Lambert International Airport),†said LuxLiving Director of Operations Kyle Hennessey. “We think this is a premier spot and are excited to get into the hotel business, too.â€
The 2.2-acre site, at 8400 Delmar Boulevard, had been owned since 2018 by a company affiliated with . LuxLiving acquired the property last month. The office building currently contains the Global Village Language Center, while small business Craft Central is located in a building on the parking lot.
Plans call for a five-story Element by Westin Hotel, according to University City planning documents, though the developer says negotiations with hotel brands aren’t final yet. The four-story “luxury†apartment building would be mostly one-bedroom and studio apartments, with about 29 two-bedroom apartments out of 160 total units. The developer would also add a restaurant space to the building.
University City Planning Director Cliff Cross said the University City Council is expected to take up the rezoning matter at its Feb. 24 meeting. Approval of the final plan could come as soon as this summer. Construction is expected to take 18 to 24 months after that.
LuxLiving, led by Victor Alston and Sidarth Chakraverty, has been busy in recent years. It is finishing up leasing on its new Bordeaux apartments, a 48-unit rehab of an old mop factory in Lafayette Square, and it expects to complete construction of its 150-unit Chelsea apartments on Pershing Avenue in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood later this year. It recently proposed another 150-unit building in that neighborhood.