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‘Lighthouse Landing’ Planned 1.5 Miles From Zoo’s Wildlife Park
‘Lighthouse Landing’ Planned
1.5 Miles From Zoo’s Wildlife Park
By Bob Lindsey
If You Build It They Will Come. That’s certainly what the St. Louis Zoo Wildlife Park is expecting when the metro’s largest new attraction opens in a few years. Leaders in St. Louis and North County are anticipating more new attractions and venues in the area near the Spanish Lake location for the Zoo’s big project which will be anchored by safari rides through the 200-plus acres of the safari’s experience.
The level and graded 67-acre site (top photo) along the Mississippi River banks at I-270 and Columbia Bottoms Road has been ripe for development for several years. M2 Development Parters wants to build what they call a “Lighthouse Landing” (depicted below) which would become a tourist destination with a marina, hotels, restaurants and other entertainment venues.
Plans for a Lighthouse Landing were recently unveiled for the site which is located on, what was, North Shore Golf course prior to the flood of 1993. The rising water back then wrecked the area that overlooks the Mississippi River near I-270 and Riverview River, the farthest northern tip of the City of St. Louis border.
This is the third proposal for development of a lighthouse, boat ramp, hotels and restaurants for this location. The land has been raised from the flood plain site with tons of dirt past with plans for development. But this new plan seems to have a lot of positive momentum and the developer M2DP has a solid track record of large mixed-use developments.
M2DP, (www M2DevelopmentPartners.com) a Nashville, TN-based real estate development and investment firm, focuses on the development of large mixed-use projects in various markets around the United States.
M2DP has announced the pending acquisition and development of Lighthouse Point – a 67.51-acre Opportunity Zone site located at 11000 Riverview Drive in North St. Louis, MO, directly on the banks of the Mississippi River. M2DP cited the St. Louis Zoo Wildcare Park , about 1.5 miles north from the already graded ground, as a big draw for the area.
M2DP is currently in discussions with several prospective destination and entertainment-type users for the site to include a marina, waterpark, themed hotels, restaurants, limited supporting retail and much more. M2DP’s intention “is to ensure that what they develop on this incredible site meshes well with the natural beauty of the Mississippi River providing a long-term economic development driver.” M2DP is seeking a development agreement with the St. Louis Port Authority with potential incentive for the riverfront project.
M2DP is currently in discussions with ECAP & IBEW Local #1 to be an investor in the Lighthouse Point project. The Electrical Workers Union Local #1, through its labor and management trustees, recently committed to fund an ECAP program in the greater St. Louis area.
