Maryville University on Friday launched plans to expand its campus by transforming an aging Town and Country shopping center into a multi-use facility with an esports arena, a dormitory and retail.
The plans, which are still in the conceptual phase, still have to be approved by the city of Town and Country, where the private university and the development are both located. The project would be anchored by a 3,000-seat multipurpose arena that would be built at the current 11.5-acre site of Woods Mill Center, the shopping center at 14302 South Outer Forty Road, along the intersection of Highway 141 and Interstate 64. The university campus is about 1.4 miles from the site, or a five-minute drive.
The new athletic complex would house the university’s esports program that has gained national recognition, along with other sports and activities, including Maryville’s men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and wrestling. The more traditional sports would gain 800 to 1,000 seats for games and matches compared to their current facilities located on the university’s main campus, while the esports program would build on its capability to broadcast its competitions around the world, said Maryville President Mark Lombardi.
The project is also slated to include a five-story residence hall that would house 400 students above 6,000 square feet of retail that would be open to the community. Most of the 1,300 parking spaces needed for the project would be inside a parking garage. The site would also have outdoor plazas, walking trails and bike paths for students and the community.
The university is partnering with two St. Louis-area developers on the project, KEAT Properties, led by CEO Greg Yawitz, and Keeley Properties, led by CEO Jason Braidwood. The development team has the property under contract and will own it and likely lease it to Maryville, although the details of that have not yet been finalized, Yawitz and Braidwood said. Development costs were not disclosed.
The shopping center, owned by Solon Gershman Inc., an entity of Gershman Commercial Real Estate, was appraised at $3.83 million in 2021, down from $5.1 million in 2020. The owners had marketed it for sale as far back as 2017.
Maryville, located in Town and Country since 1960, is one of the five fastest-growing universities in the country. Combined physical and online enrollment now tops 11,000, with about 3,000 students physically on campus.
The new sports complex and dorm would solve the university’s growth needs for the foreseeable future and also allow the university to provide more amenities for its growing student body, who come from all 50 states and 56 countries, Lombardi said.
“It allows us to showcase what an amazing story Maryville University is — our growth and our regional, local and national footprint and the awareness that people have,” Lombardi said. If the plans are approved, “we will have completed our plan to have some of the best Division II athletic facilities outdoor and indoor in the United States, and this will bring that full circle and complete it. It really provides a set of athletic and social experiences for young people that’s going to be great for Town and Country, for West County, for this whole portion of St. Louis.”
The shopping center, which is about half leased, would be demolished to make way for the new development. City officials consider the shopping center site underutilized and cite it as ripe for development in the city’s latest comprehensive plan. Since the land borders neighborhoods with single-family houses, the development team has held community meetings for neighbors to get feedback and address longstanding traffic concerns on South Woods Mill Road. The plan will add landscaping to the side of the parking garage to enhance the look, developers said.
“This is a game changer on so many levels – for Maryville, for Town & Country, for esports. We couldn’t be more excited for this partnership and what the development will bring to the community and the greater St. Louis region,» Rusty Keeley, CEO of Keeley Companies, said in a prepared statement.
Esports is a growing form of entertainment and competition in which teams play multiplayer video games against each other. It has grown into a multi-million dollar industry with tens of millions of fans and viewers. As an early backer of the technology-driven competition at the collegiate level, Maryville has grown into one of the sport’s powerhouse schools, winning four national championships. The website BestColleges.com in January named Maryville No. 3 in the country among the nation’s top collegiate esports programs.
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