The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis is rolling out a new multi-million-dollar plan to revive a battered stretch of West Florissant Avenue in north St. Louis County, aiming to turn long-vacant lots into a mix of retail, a civic plaza and senior housing. Organizers say the projects are meant to bring back jobs, services and everyday foot traffic to neighborhoods that have endured a decade of disinvestment since the unrest.
According to KSDK, the Urban League has moved to acquire three vacant lots along West Florissant for the development. The National Urban League also reported on the plan and noted that the adjacent senior facility is slated to include 44 housing units as part of the effort, per the National Urban League.
Project details
The centerpiece of the redevelopment will be an Urban League Plaza, anchored by a First Bank branch and designed with space for a restaurant, banquet facilities and several small commercial bays, according to the St. Louis American. Across the street, the League plans to add a senior living building with roughly 44 units. Partners who have built earlier senior housing projects in the same corridor say that scale has worked well before, according to design and construction firm KAI.
Funding and partners
League leaders say the land purchases are possible because of a mix of corporate and philanthropic backing. Centene Corporation and Emerson helped the Urban League acquire the lots as part of a broader public-private push to stabilize the corridor, according to the National Urban League.
Why West Florissant
West Florissant was one of the commercial corridors hit hardest after the 2014 unrest, and turning vacant parcels back into active properties has been a priority in county and federal recovery plans. The plaza concept grew out of community planning tied to the Promise Zone initiative, according to the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership. EPA has backed brownfields cleanup and reuse work that helped make several parcels buildable again, per the EPA. Local reporting also noted that Emerson provided an initial $500,000 gift to help secure the site, underscoring the mix of public and private money driving the work.
Officials say the Urban League is now shifting from planning to early implementation, with an emphasis on producing visible signs of investment rather than more promises on paper. The projects are intended to show residents that West Florissant is not being written off, Urban League president Michael McMillan told KSDK. County partners and the Urban League say they will release more details on construction timelines and tenant announcements as financing and permits are finalized.
