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The three-story development will have 44 one- and two-bedroom units of low-income housing for people over the age of 62. The first floor will feature community space for the Urban League's Senior Empowerment Series, which presents information on senior services, transportation, health and wellness. 

Construction of the project, at 9947 West Florissant Ave., will start in the first quarter of 2022, according to a release. 

Urban League President and CEO Michael McMillan said in a statement that the project arose from talks with Dellwood Mayor Reggie Jones and the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership. 

“When we started talking with Mayor Jones about this project over two years ago, we made it clear that we wanted to be responsive to the needs of the community," McMillan said, "and we’ve done that.�

The ground breaking took place on the seventh anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American who was shot and killed by then-Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson, who is white. Brown's death led to unrest in Ferguson and nearby Dellwood in 2014. 

The senior living complex is being built on the site of a former AutoZone that burned down during the 2014 unrest. 

The Urban League worked with Centene Corp. and health insurance agency Home State Health to acquire the land. It received financing through Great Southern Bank; the Missouri Housing Development Commission awarded the project low income housing tax credits in 2019.

The Urban League also is partnering with Gardner Capital, construction company KAI and The National Development Corp., a New York-based financial services firm that also donated $100,000 for an entrepreneur center in the Urban League's new headquarters in St. Louis' Fountain Park neighborhood.