Maryland Pointe Development to Replace Thies Farm

This map, based on the developer's proposal, shows big box development replacing Thies Farm.
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Pacific Development Returns with Maryland Pointe

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Pacific Development has filed an application with the City of Maryland Heights - Maryland Pointe.

Maryland Pointe is a request for a Planned District on a 191 acre site on both sides of Maryland Heights Expressway, north of River Valley Drive. Over 1,400,000 square feet of regional retail development is proposed.

The City Planner is in the process of analyzing the consistency of the request with the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code. Once that analysis is complete, a hearing on the Conceptual Development Plan will be scheduled. This hearing is expected to occur in January.

Help Preserve Creve Coeur Park and Howard Bend


What you should know
The City of Maryland Heights' Comprehensive Plan calls for 22 million square feet of commercially developed space adjacent to Creve Coeur Park and within wetland wildlife areas, replacing Thies Farm and Sportport, among other things, with retail and office buildings.

How big is it?
22 million square feet is equivalent to 20 West County Malls, or 50 times the 31-story Laclede Gas building in downtown St. Louis, and that does not include the parking. 

The plan covers the Howard Bend area—some 8,000 acres of historical Missouri River floodplain that includes Riverport, Harrah’s, Sportport, Creve Coeur Park and the Airport, and extends south to the City line at Waterworks Road and east to the bluffs.

We are opposed to reckless commercial development in Howard Bend because:

1.  Building in a floodplain is bad for taxpayers.  There is a so-called “500-year levee” protecting Howard Bend, but earthen levees become saturated, leak, weaken and fail, as we have seen numerous times since 1993, most recently in 2008. An SIU-Carbondale study shows a 1993-level flood is likely to reoccur every 15-20 years and even if your city doesn’t flood, taxpayers still pay for the places that do.  Missouri taxpayers incurred at least $3 billion in direct costs from the 1993 flood and the 1998 costs are over $6 billion.  Howard Bend is a wetlands cache basin for rain water draining from developed land above it and regularly floods from creek and lake runoffs on a consistent basis after heavy rains. 

2.  It’s unnecessary.  Right now, there are over 2 million square feet of commercial vacancies in Westport alone, another 3+ million available in Earth City and Creve Coeur. New commercial space will likely draw existing businesses away from these established areas.  The City should actively work to renew its existing core through redevelopment, not abandon it.

3.  It will adversely change the character of the whole area.  According to the Maryland Heights community development department, full commercial development will bring over 250,000 automobile trips per day to the area, dramatically increasing noise and air pollution. No one wants to see warehouses instead of open space, offices instead of farms, and an AmerenUE substation right next to Creve Coeur Park.

4.  The costs outweigh the benefits. Maryland Heights claims the new development will secure the city’s financial future. What they don’t mention are all the infrastructure costs needed for new, remote developments:  streets, fire and police protection, water, sewer and electric services.  These are typically a city’s cost, not the developer’s, and often outweigh any additional sales/utility tax revenues generated by the development. In addition, commercial development that focuses on national chains drains revenue from local businesses and their local suppliers, leading to a net loss to the local economy. Reinvestment in existing commercial areas would lead to increased license/building fees and sales/utility taxes with little infrastructure costs and the added benefit of being easily accessible to city residents.

Join more than 2,500 others and sign the petition to stop large-scale commercial development in Howard Bend!