Whole Foods to open in Town and Country
By Gail Appleson
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Whole Foods Market Inc. will open its second St. Louis area store in a development in Town and Country planned for the former Lucent Technology campus at the southwest corner of Clayton and Woods Mill roads.

The project, called Town and Country Crossing, will cover 75 acres and will include a 3-acre man-made lake and a pedestrian plaza visible from the roadways.

In addition to retail, the development will include restaurants and a gated community of townhouses. Architect for the project is TR,i Architects of Clayton.

The Whole Foods store and a Target, which are expected to open in the second half of 2008, will anchor the 310,00-square-foot retail segment, said Town and Country Alderman Fred Meyland-Smith, who chaired the committee involved in planning the project.

"The committee's purpose was to work cooperatively to achieve an overall more attractive development that would complement the retail tenants as well as the surrounding community," he said Tuesday in a telephone interview.

Meyland-Smith said 30 acres will be used for residential purposes while 45 acres will be commercial. Whole Foods will occupy the eastern edge of the retail space, with the front facing the interior of the development and rear at Woods Mill Road. A Whole Foods spokeswoman said the store will cover 55,000 square feet.

Construction is expected to begin in late summer.

The total number of retailers and their identities have yet to be determined, Meyland-Smith said.

The property was put on the market in 2001 after Lucent Technologies Inc. of New Jersey announced major cutbacks in a move to raise cash. Lucent now is part of Alcatel-Lucent, based in Paris.

Developer Ted Levis of Clayton, along with two out-of-town partners, formed TNC Investors and bought the site in 2001 with hopes of constructing a shopping center.

The shopping-center plans drew opposition from some residents who worried that the local streets were not wide enough for the traffic, while others complained that Target seemed a bit lowbrow for the well-to-do community. Residents signed petitions to block the center in its earlier versions, and they sued TNC. The dispute was settled out of court.

As time passed, the plans were revised to allay residents' concerns and in 2006 the Town and Country Board of Aldermen granted TNC permission to redevelop the site.

However, the board also passed an ordinance to govern the site and protect a portion of the land referred to as the Post Oak Savanna.

Located in the northwest corner of the property near the intersection of Clayton Road and Henry Avenue, the area has a number of large post oak trees that date back hundreds of years. A provision in the ordinance provides for the restoration of the Post Oak Savanna.