Kroenke, partner back out of suburban St. Louis development

ST. LOUIS -- The man who took the NFL out of St. Louis won't be pursuing a mega-development in the St. Louis suburbs after all.

Billionaire real-estate developer Stan Kroenke and St. Louis attorney Alan Bornstein have ended their plans to develop 1,800 acres near the Missouri River, officials in Maryland Heights said Wednesday. They gave no official reason, but city officials laid the blame in the struggling retail economy.

"They couldn't find retailers that were interested at this point," city spokesman Craig Workman said. Other developers also submitted proposals, but for much smaller projects.

Messages seeking comment from Kroenke and Bornstein were not immediately returned.

Kroenke remains an unpopular figure in the St. Louis region after moving the Rams to Los Angeles this season, which was a huge blow to the region's pride and status. The team's 29-page application to move was critical of St. Louis' economic and population growth and cited two NFL-commissioned studies that said it "lags, and will continue to lag, far behind in the economic drivers that are necessary for sustained success of an NFL franchise."

So, Kroenke critics found irony in his interest in Maryland Heights, a city in wealthy western St. Louis County that has high hopes for the large swath of mostly undisturbed land.

The project had opposition for other reasons. Some opposed development in the flood plain, even though state and federal officials approved it a decade ago.

David Stokes, executive director of the Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, said the end of the project is "good news, with or without Stan Kroenke."

"Floods are getting worse, but we continue to develop and pave over the areas where Mother Nature intended water to go," Stokes said.

Workman and City Councilman Ed Dirck said the city will take a new approach, spending up to a year to develop its own plan for what the area should look like, then seeking bids for specific retail, office and entertainment projects.

"We're basically resetting the switch and starting over," Workman said.

Dirck said the opportunity remains "for Maryland Heights to have a very successful development that will be something very special for our whole community."

Kroenke, who grew up in Missouri, has developed major projects throughout the St. Louis area and the nation.