ST. LOUIS • 50¶È»ÒÊÓƵ University said Thursday it plans to demolish the historic Pevely Dairy complex and replace it with an office for its SLUCare physicians' practice.
The complex, at Chouteau Avenue and South Grand Boulevard, is made up of large brick buildings erected between 1915 and 1945. SLU has sought demolition permits for the buildings, which are on the National Register of Historic Places. The university argues the buildings can't accommodate a modern medical practice.
"The site's industrial buildings are not suited to developing the kind of state-of-the-art, patient-centered facility needed for SLUCare," said university spokesman Clayton Berry. "That being said, the university is — as part of its planning process — looking at which site features could possibly be preserved, including the tall smokestack and the facade of the building at Grand and Chouteau."
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SLU's permit applications, filed Oct. 26, will likely be considered at the city Preservation Board's next meeting, scheduled for Nov. 28. They also face review by the city's Cultural Resources Office.
Before SLU purchased the complex, developer Rick Yacky planned to put 165 market-rate apartments and commercial space there. But SLU disclosed in August it had purchased the buildings, which prominently sit south of the university's main campus and the city's midtown area.
The university's request to demolish the buildings has caught the attention of preservationists.
"SLU's willingness to preserve both the smokestack and the corner facade is an impressive step in the right direction," said Lindsey Derrington, an architectural historian with Preservation Research Office, a consulting firm. "Even better would be plans to preserve the corner building itself for incorporation into the new SLUCare facility … It would set a great example of how institutions can incorporate historic buildings into modern, 21st-century developments, rather than razing everything wholesale."
SLU anticipates investing "millions of dollars" to improve the Pevely site, Berry said. The complex sits across South Grand from the university's $82 million Doisy Research Center, which opened in 2007.
A new doctors' building at the site would replace a SLUCare office at 3660 Vista Avenue. Berry said the physicians' practice — which annually sees nearly 500,000 patients at several locations — has outgrown the Vista building. A new facility at the Pevely site "reinforces our continued commitment to midtown and to our patients' health," he said.
The Pevely buildings were designed for production of dairy products and used as the company's headquarters. Production ceased three years ago. Three buildings, the smokestack and two parking lots sit on the eight-acre site.
The main building, a four-story red brick structure familiar to generations of 50¶È»ÒÊÓƵans, has a terra cotta cornice with colored tile designs, according to the complex's nomination to the National Register.
"Many of the original wood industrial windows have also been retained on this building, as well as the glazed brick walls and floors and intricate woodwork," the nomination said.