New mix-use development breaks ground

By Erin Taylor

Ground was broken last week for the $150 million University Village mixed-use development at the corner of Brentwood Boulevard and Galleria Parkway.

The development, expected to be completed in 2010, will include a 40,000-square-foot retail building, an 8,000-square-foot restaurant, two parking garages and two hotels, including the Homewood Suites by Hilton and the Westin Hotel.

The Lionstone Group, a private real estate investment firm, the St. Louis-based Sansone Group and EQUIS Hospitality Management are behind the development. Lionstone Cash Flow Office One, a partnership between the Lionstone and Sansone Groups, already own the adjacent University Club Tower. Upgrades to that 273,000-square-foot office building are also expected.

Surrounding retail includes the St. Louis Galleria, the Boulevard, Brentwood Town Square and the Promenade at Brentwood.

"The University Village development fulfills the need for additional lodging and parking that this area now demands," said Mike Mullenix, chairman of EQUIS, which is developing the hotels.

Sansone Group traffic counts show that 35,038 vehicles traveled Brentwood Boulevard per day in 2006. Around 132,025 vehicles passed the area on Interstate 64/Highway 40 per day in 2006, according to the same study. Highway 40 is expected to reopen in both directions from Ballas Road to Interstate 170 by Dec. 31, 2008. Lanes in both directions will then close from I-170 to Kingshighway Boulevard until Dec. 31, 2009.

Gregory Mullenix, also with EQUIS, said the first hotel is expected to be completed by April 2009. The Westin is expected to be completed by the following April in 2010.

Gregory Mullenix said the development's location at Clayton Road and Brentwood Boulevard is ideal.

"We've always felt it (the intersection of Clayton and Brentwood) to be Main and Main," he said. "If you look at the general area, the last hotel built was back in 1990."

EQUIS had negotiated with the previous owners of the University Tower, but those plans stalled in 2005 after they sold the building.

You can contact Erin Taylor at etaylor@yourjournal.com.