West Newsmagazine 4-11-18

44 I COVER STORY I
April 11, 2018
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
@WESTNEWSMAG
WESTNEWSMAGAZINE.COM
Twin Oaks branches out
with new town hall, economic development
Twin Oaks town hall
By JESSICA MESZAROS
For a city with a current population of
under 400 people and a size of about 0.27
square miles, Twin Oaks is digging deep
and carving out an identity in St. Louis
County with a new town hall and economic
development slated to approximately
double the size of the city in 2019.
On March 28, the city kicked off its
growth with the grand opening of its firstever
town hall, located at 1393 Big Bend
Road, on the southwestern corner of the
Twin Oaks Schnucks Plaza parking lot.
The single-story facility is roughly 5,500-
square feet. It cost about $1.7 million to
create. City staff moved into the facility in
February.
For years, the community’s administrative
offices occupied leased space in
a storefront in the Twin Oaks Schnucks
Plaza.
“The new town hall [has been] 12 years
in the making,” Mayor Russ Fortune said.
“We started saving money 12 years ago and
waited for the right time. This is the culmination
of a lot of hard work and residential
input.”
At its grand opening celebration, the new
building was well received by city staff
and residents alike.
“It looks absolutely beautiful,” resident
Dave Johnson said. “It’s really impressive.
I went up to the old city hall once ... to pay
a bill. You walked in, and there was a counter
right there in front of you and that was
it. That was as far as a resident could go in.”
The new town hall is split into two areas,
with one housing the city’s administrative
offices and the other containing a multipurpose
community room that also serves
as the Board of Aldermen chambers. The
room can be divided into larger and smaller
meeting rooms and, according to Fortune,
the city is looking to open the area
as a potential meeting space for nonprofit
groups and local clubs.
“I know we have a lot of local nonprofits
and clubs who might be interested in the
space. It can really be transformed into a
place to be used by many people in the
community,” Fortune said.
Celebrating the Twin Oaks community
extends to the art on town hall walls, featuring
artwork by longtime Twin Oaks
resident George Edward “Ed” Smith.
Smith, 97, used his artistic skills to depict
images from the city’s park and other scenery,
done years prior to the conception of
the city hall.
“I would just go down to the park with all
my supplies, and I would sit and do these
sketches,” Smith said.
Smith began working with pencils and
paintbrushes many years ago, even before
serving as a B-17 pilot for the Eighth Army
Air Corps. Smith said he was shot down
over Germany and was held as a prisoner
for 16 months before being liberated in
1945. Smith lived in the Twin Oaks condominiums
for about 34 years. Though he
no longer lives within the city limits, he
returned to Twin Oaks for the building’s
grand opening and gave the new town hall
his stamp of approval.
“It’s quite an impressive place,” Smith
said. “It’s unbelievable.”
Branching out and up
Founded in 1938 and originally designated
as a village, Twin Oaks obtained
fourth-class city status via public election
in November 2016. The city has
about 392 residents and is about 173
acres in size and bordered by a mix of
municipalities and unincorporated St.
Louis County.
While the city might seem like a
sapling, it is quickly branching out in
terms development and population.
Around the time the city began its
town hall construction in 2017, efforts
also were underway for a $57 million
redevelopment of the Big Bend Square
site, located directly across Big Bend
Boulevard from the new town hall.
The process included the demolition of a
former Schnucks market at the western end
of the site and renovation of the remaining
buildings’ facades.
Where Schnucks once stood, a new
mixed-used development is rising up – topping
out at five stories tall. The development
will add about 17,000 square feet of
additional business and retail space to the
existing 25,000 square feet of city retail
and include 219 high-end luxury apartments.
The new apartments are projected to add
another 300 to 350 residents to the city,
effectively doubling its population.
The retail portion of the project will
retain the Big Bend Square name; however,
the new apartment complex will be referred
to as the Village at Twin Oaks Apartments.
The development is being built by Propper
Construction Co. with Haley Holdings
Seven LLC serving as its investment group.
Planned improvements to Big Bend
Square include additional landscaping,
modern lighting and architectural lifts to
existing facades. Other improvements to
the overall area include widening the sidewalks,
enhancing lighting and upgrading
the parking lot to enhance the area’s walkability
and access.
According to Tim Breece, a representative
of developer Haley Holdings Seven
The upcoming Village at Twin Oaks Apartments as seen from Hwy. 141
LLC and president of Propper Construction
Services, the area was designed with
walkability in mind.
“We’re trying to give it this walkable
element for the residents that are going to
live there in the apartments,” Breece said.
“There are 219 [apartments] planned, and
for those people to be able to come down
and walk to all the services in the center,
that’s really what we’re going for.
Prior to Haley Holdings Seven LLC and
Propper Construction Services becoming
interested in the site, the location sat vacant
for almost a decade.
“There was just this big lull,” City
Administrator Kathy Runge said. “It just
sat vacant.”
Although city staff received multiple
offers for the location, none of the developments
suited the image of the city, Runge
said. Proposals included those for various
retail stores, a fitness center and even an
ice rink.
“We received offers for the location, but
we just didn’t feel some of them were
appropriate,” Alderman Jeff Graves said.
Now, the area is being looked at as a centralized
hub for the potentially expanding
city.
“We think of it as a town center or a possible
town square,” Breece said. “That’s
kind of what we’re going for. The apartments
will definitely increase the population
of Twin Oaks, but it’s a town square
or town center concept that’ll be there. Not
only do we have the shops that are there
currently, but we’re adding around 17,000
square feet of additional shops to the center.
Those will be new shops that will open up
with services that we think will be appealing
to the residents of Twin Oaks and the
surrounding areas.”
The development’s ground-floor stores
would add an estimated 20 percent more