Progress report: The status of Ballpark Village’s $260M expansion as the Cardinals begin the season
The action on the diamond won’t be the only thing St. Louis Cardinals fans can watch this season. They’ll also be able to see progress being made on phase two of Ballpark Village.
Similar to last season, construction on the $260 million expansion project will provide a backdrop to Busch Stadium, which is scheduled to host the Cardinals home opener on Thursday. The Cardinals, along with development partner Cordish Cos., in December 2017 broke ground on the project.
The 700,000-square-foot expansion includes a 10-story Class A office building, a 29-story, 297-unit apartment tower called One Cardinal Way, a three-story retail building anchored by Onelife Fitness and a Live! by Loews hotel. PARIC Corp. is general contractor on the project.
“I think one of the things that's going to be really fun as the season progresses is we’re now really at that point where every week there’s something cool going up — glass goes up on a new floor or a building tops out or you add a floor to the apartments,” said Cordish Cos. Vice President of Development and Managing Director of Multifamily Development Nick Benjamin.
The four components of Ballpark Village’s second phase are planned to open in a staggered timeframe. Paric Corp. Vice President Paul Giacoletto said the office building is about 60 percent complete while the Onelife Fitness building is about 25 percent done. Meanwhile, he said the hotel and and apartment building are about 40 and 35 percent completed, respectively. Those totals have all inched up since November 2018 when the Business Journal previously took an inside look at the construction.
The Pennant Building is topped out and glass is currently being installed, Giacoletto said. PwC, the building’s anchor tenant, is scheduled to move into the building in early September, according to Benjamin, who said additional tenants for the facility will be named soon.
Onelife Fitness is planned to open before the end of 2019 while 216-room Live! by Loews hotel is expected to debut in the first quarter of 2020. The apartment tower is scheduled to open in summer 2020 and is currently about 30 percent leased, Benjamin said. That’s a figure Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said signals fans’ anticipation about the expansion.
“I think it speaks to the interest in this project, but also the interest in that location. It’s kind of in the sweet spot. It’s got views of the ballpark, the Arch, the river, the downtown skyline,” DeWitt said.