Politics & Government

'Vanguard' Apartment Plan Debated & Tabled By City Planners

Apartments looking to cater to Creve Coeur's high-tech corridor have been opposed by neighbors concerned over property values.

A developer who wants to build more than 170 apartment units on a former church property on Old Olive Street reported some success in working with adjacent condominium owners Monday night, but still faced opposition from those residents in testimony before Creve Coeur's Planning and Zoning Commission.

David Braswell, the developer on the project, came back in front of the commission in search of rezoning request and a conditional use permit for the "Vanguard at Creve Coeur" project, located on the former Immanuel Baptist Church property on Old Olive Street. The upscale apartments would attempt to cater to employees of the nearby Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Monsanto, BRDG Park and the St. Louis County Helix Center. 

Braswell said he has moved a parking structure so it is not immediately adjacent to a neighboring property and said he met with residents at the neighboring Carriage House complex to work on a common landscaping plan.

Despite other changes which would lower the elevations for the project, several Carriage House neighbors reiterated their opposition to the development's potential impact on their property values, with one resident saying it would keep her family in "dire straits" financially with regard to an ability to sell and move on.

Braswell said the development would invest $150,000 in each of the new units and said there wasn't evidence that his project would decrease the value of the Carriage House units.

Members of the Commission asked Braswell to consider changes to the project that could relocate some of the units or potentially reduce the number of units.

The project was tabled and could reappear on the commission's agenda next month.


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