Remember the Almono

A long process yields a great city development

Skeptics scoffed when four philanthropic foundations bought the former LTV Coke Works site in Hazelwood in 2002. They believed that foundations know nothing about real estate development and would not be able to revitalize the 178-acre property. Now, years later, the foundations are proving the skeptics wrong.

The foundations, through their consortium Almono LP, have been working closely with agencies that do real estate development full-time, such as the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Regional Industrial Development Corporation. As a result, they are making significant progress.

Last week Almono named the RIDC to be the lead in redeveloping the former Mill 19 Building there and announced the search for a master developer/investor to tackle the rest of the property. Up to this point, RIDC had responsibility for overseeing redevelopment of all 178 acres.

An $80 million overhaul of the 165,000-square-foot Mill Building will jump-start the project. The first phase, costing $20 million, will create 65,000 square feet of research and development space to a derelict industrial building. The city planning commission will hear a briefing on this today.

A key connector road that cuts through the middle of the property is under construction. RIDC estimates that the cost of this road is $27 million. It’s clear that significant investments and site preparations are going on at this time.

Skeptics may renew their scoffing as they hear that the URA board has delayed the implementation of a tax increment financing, or TIF, plan to attract developers to the site. The board pushed back the start of this plan to January 2017. However, we feel that this is a minor slowdown on a long and complex journey.

Throughout this process we urge the RIDC, URA and Almono to continue their efforts to connect with the current Hazelwood neighborhood. Community groups such as the Hazelwood Initiative continue to convene meetings intended to bring residents into the planning process. All parties would do well to ensure that the redevelopment is integrated with the neighborhood and not an island unto itself.