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Developers discuss $135 million Albion development

Note: Originally published as print-only in The CWE Griffin Newspaper. Photos Credit: Albion Residential & Koplar Properties

A rendering of The Albion West End apartment tower at Lindell and North Kingshighway boulevards.

At the corner of Lindell Boulevard and Kingshighway sits a vacant lot, but Koplar Properties and Albion Residential have announced the development of a 30-story, 293-unit, luxury apartment tower to fill the vacancy. Their project, Albion West End, is to be located at 4974 Lindell, just south of the Chase Park Plaza hotel, and will be completely finished by 2025.

A Community Engagement Meeting was held on March 22, 2022 at The Chase Park Plaza to discuss the Lindell/Kingshighway development. Sam Koplar of Koplar Properties, Albion Residential’s Vice President Development Andrew Yule, and the architect, Paul Alessandro, Partner at Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture, all presented.

“In terms of the community benefits themselves, you know, we see this as a really big investment in St. Louis today,” Yule stated at the presentation.

Yule and Koplar have big plans for the Albion West End to be a lasting, communal hub for the CWE, equipped with amenities such as a pool, bar, and outdoor activities on the rooftop, an open and inviting lobby, access to free Wi Fi, a stargazing lounge, and more.

The developers also envision the outdoor spaces to be a sort of “front porch to the park,” as they plan to have the building on a slightly raised platform overlooking Forest Park. They’re asking the City of St. Louis for relief from the code in which they’re required to construct the building onto the sidewalk. This way, they’ll be able to set it back several feet and have more room for the proposed porch-like setting.

“We're elevating ourselves above Kingshighway, protecting it with landscaping, and with kind of a beautiful art wall,” Alessandro said. “There, they give some protection and a little bit of shelter to that porch. The porch wraps around the whole front facade, and then a parking lot sits behind the tower.”

Other benefits to the community include about 450 union jobs during the time of construction, as well as several green initiatives to improve sustainability in the area.

For example, Alessandro explained, “We're creating a bioswales garden between our building and the St. Regis, and that is a way that we'll be controlling the water that goes into the sewer so that we're not dumping excessive amounts of water and sewage.”

While the development of the Albion West End is sure to bring exciting, sustainable, and beautiful additions to the CWE, there are several concerns regarding how this endeavor will affect the lives of people in the community. For instance, questions were asked at the engagement meeting about hectic traffic at the Lindell and Kingshighway intersection, the bus stop which currently sits at this corner, consideration for construction vehicles blocking residential alleyways, and how they plan to address these concerns.

A representative from Trinity Episcipal Church asked, “I want to understand how the streetscape is going to invite rather than discourage the people who now use that corner. There's a bus stop there, there are people who live in that park, who have to walk by foot to get to us for food. Are they going to be able to walk along Kingshighway through your outdoor plaza? How will we invite the community to use public space for the whole community, not just the residents of that board, and use the park as a public benefit?”

Yule explained that they do plan on rebuilding the bus stop in a better-suited location for buses to pull over, and that this feedback from the community is helping to prevent mistakes from happening as they move forward.

“I depend on you as a neighbor as well as much as you depend on us being a great developer and managing the general contractor, who's not sitting with us today, to hold their feet to the fire,” Yule stated.

The developers invite folks to visit their website and subscribe for updates at 4974lindell.com.