WEBSTER GROVES — A city tax incentive commission on Tuesday recommended that a major proposed housing and commercial development here receive $35 million in incentives.
The commission voted 8-4 to recommend the City Council grant $35 million in tax increment financing to developer SG Collaborative’s Douglass Hill project that would add more housing, retail and commercial space at the southwest corner of North Gore and West Kirkham avenues. Webster Groves School District’s appointees, David Addison and Pam Frazier, and city appointees Ryan Murphy and Clark Hotaling voted no.
The recommendation is not binding, and the City Council has final say on approving the TIF. It is slated to vote on the TIF and rezoning on Dec. 7.
The existing businesses in the 15-acre footprint of Douglass Hill, except for a historic Black church there, would be demolished for some 700 apartments, 100 condominiums and more than 100,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. The development would add more residents and tax dollars to Webster, which has long targeted the area for redevelopment.
It is the most ambitious commercial development here in recent memory, but its scale, potential to exacerbate traffic, and impact to a nearby creek have been divisive among residents.
Throughout its monthslong tenure, members of the TIF Commission touched on those issues, often going beyond the commission’s role in evaluating the merits of the TIF.
Read More: Commission approves $35M incentives for Webster Groves housing, commercial