St. Louis University has expanded its midtown footprint by buying the old Pevely Dairy complexat Chouteau Avenue and South Grand Boulevard.
SLU has yet to say what it will do with the old brick buildings, which are across Grand from its$80 million Doisy Research Center, opened in 2007.
Developer Rick Yackey had planned to put 165 market-rate apartments and commercial space
in the former Pevely buildings. He gave a "no comment" Friday about SLU's purchase of the property.
SLU President Lawrence Biondi doesn't have much to say, either. As part of his regular message to the university community, Biondi noted this week the purchase of the Pevely site and SLU's previous acquistion of a former truck lot owned by Cortex at the northwest corner of Grand and Chouteau.
"With our Doisy Research Center, we now control three of the four corners of this key intersection," Biondi said in his message.
He also disclosed that SLU recently bought the site of Bee-Line Trucking Co., a moving company that operated at 3300 Chouteau, between Grand and Compton avenues.
"Although we have not determined uses for these properties, it was logical to take advantage of opportunities that made it financially feasible for us to secure these key sites near our Medical Center," Biondi's message says.
Completed in phases starting in 1919, the Pevely Dairy site served as the company's headquarters in the 1940s, when Pevely was a household name.
SLU has been spending heavily in the area. Just completed in the neighborhood is a recreation complex for SLU's medical school campus and a home for its men's and women's track and field teams. The 400-meter track's infield accommodates a full-size soccer field |
