Collinsville Town Center to advance city's retail boom
St. Louis Business Journal - by Tom Herrmann

For years, drivers heading into Illinois on Interstate 55/70 had little more than fast-food restaurants and low-priced hotels to let them know they had entered Collinsville.

Koman Properties is trying to change that, said Terry Barnes, the company's senior vice president of development. "What we are trying to do is create a new commercial front door for Collinsville."

St. Louis-based Koman, which earlier this year opened the $70 million Collinsville Crossing retail center on Illinois Route 157 just south of the interstate, has plans to build an upscale mixed-use development just east of Route 157. Called Collinsville Town Center, the development would be modeled after the Wildwood Town Center in west St. Louis County, also a Koman project.

Collinsville Town Center, planned for 12 acres across Route 157 from Collinsville Crossing, would include retail and restaurant space on the street level with office space on higher floors, Barnes said. He would not give an estimated cost and said the square footage has not been determined.

"We want to bring in a little better tenant and a little better look to Collinsville below the bluffs," Barnes said. He would not identify potential tenants.

Paul Mann, Collinsville's director of community development and tax increment financing, said he hopes the city will approve the development as early as this fall. But Barnes said he expects the development to move more slowly because Koman will be negotiating with 16 to 17 landowners to buy the 12 acres for the center. There is not yet an estimated timeline for the project.

"We're going to negotiate with the property owners and reach a fair price for them and for us," Barnes said. "I think some of them will be willing to sell if you have a fair price, but others will not want to move. We want to convince them that long term, it is in their best interest to work with a planned development rather than see their neighbor sell to a developer and have a commercial property in their backyard."

Collinsville Crossing took three to four years to move from concept to this spring's opening, Barnes said. The center has 444,000 square feet of retail space and includes large stores such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot as well as smaller restaurants and businesses.

Barnes said population growth in areas from Collinsville to Edwardsville is driving a commercial boom in the Metro East. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Collinsville increased from 24,707 in 2000 to 32,156 in 2005.

"Illinois, from many people's standpoint, doesn't have the pretty face that Missouri has," Barnes said. "It's kind of unknown, but the tenants are finally seeing the positive of going over there. What really got them looking over there was the increase in new rooftops."

While much commercial growth in the past centered on St. Clair Square in Fairview Heights, retailers are now seeing the benefit of locating closer to their customers, he said.

"As retailers begin to understand where the people are, they want to be closer to their customers," Barnes said. "Highway 157 made a lot of sense because of the traffic and how easy it is to get there from Edwardsville, Maryville, Granite City and Collinsville. It is a much closer place to go for their needs and services."

"The goal here for the city is to have a planned approach and not something done in a hodgepodge fashion," Mann said. "We want to be able to control how the area is developed and how it ties in with the rest of the community. We're looking for a whole new urbanism approach with upscale shops and restaurants."

Tom Herrmann is a St. Louis freelance writer.

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