Sometimes, it takes a partnership to make a village.
In the case of Union at the Grove, Green Street Real Estate Ventures teamed with a consortium of local interests to bring six multifamily buildings to the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood during a pandemic that created financing challenges and construction delays.
Partners in the $40 million project included the business advocacy group Greater St. Louis, Illinois Farm Families and the Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corp., a collaboration between BJC Healthcare and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Not only did the Union project finance itself without using federal or state tax credits, it is applying funds from the 10-year tax abatement it received into a newly formed Newstead West Community Improvement District to make $3 million worth of sidewalk, streetlight and road improvements in the neighborhood.
The new buildings are a short walking distance from The Grove restaurant and entertainment district, as well as Forest Park, Tower Grove Park, the Cortex innovation district and the Washington University Medical Campus.
About the property: About half of Union’s units offer discounted rents spread throughout each of Union’s six buildings to support local workforce housing.
What the judges said: "Union at the Grove brings a second wave of much-needed multifamily expansion from the main corridor to the Grove, adding to the Class A multifamily options from the spillover demand from the BJC/Midtown growth while providing attainable rents in a diverse neighborhood that needs additional housing options. Union at the Grove sets the standards for future multifamily in St. Louis, especially amongst the pandemic era multifamily boom," wrote Alex Zvibleman, an investment broker at SVN | Infinity Commercial Group.
They made it happen: Green Street Real Estate Ventures developed the property.
