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Hazelwood Council Moves POWERplex Forward
Key Agreements and Settlements Approved to Save Former Mills Mall
The Hazelwood City Council Wednesday approved the final terms and settlement agreements in a public-private effort to revitalize the nearly vacant St. Louis Outlet Mall. The city council unanimously approved the public support terms as well as a settlement on the refinancing plan for the $36.8 million of Transportation Development District tax debt. This paves the way for the massive youth sports complex to move forward quickly in the coming weeks.
A group of local investors are leading the effort to create one of the largest amateur sports tourism campuses in America, to be known as the POWERplex. This 160+ acre blighted campus is currently 91% vacant with six boarded up out lot properties. The entire campus will be revitalized into a new youth sports megaplex. The investor group, Big Sports Properties, LLC, says the city’s overwhelming support of the project on Wednesday night, knocks down major barriers for completing the proposed youth sports tourism destination.
“The city of Hazelwood has been a remarkable partner in this project and they clearly see what all our partners and sponsors see; a campus that can be transformed into something incredible for our entire region,” said Dan Buck, the managing partner of the project.
Those voicing their support at the meeting included representatives from several neighboring businesses, current tenants and landowners on the mall property, including Cabela’s. All would benefit greatly from this major $60 million redevelopment effort.
“This is a game-changer for our entire region and a great example of how public and private partners can work together to create something incredible,” said Hazelwood City Manager Matthew Zimmerman.
The POWERplex will host more than 180 major sports tournaments, camps and events in a wide range of sports, including baseball, softball, lacrosse, 7 on 7 football, basketball, volleyball and beach volleyball. The public-private partnership will convert the 1.5 million square foot mall into six major sports venues. Additional partners will reopen the 18 theater cineplex, 13 restaurants, several entertainment and recreational venues including 3 go-kart tracks, putt-putt and ropes courses.
POWERplex will also feature more than a dozen sports and family focused retail stores. At maturity, the campus will support 6 new hotels and at least one new convenient store to serve the estimated 2.9 million sports visitors annually. Plans call for many of the new sports venues to open early in 2020, with substantial completion of all the major sports complexes ready by next fall.
A formal press conference and an official media day will be announced in the coming weeks to share all the information about future partners, tenants, sponsors, investors and facility amenities for this project.
