A young Sofia Maciariello admired the reindeer, the little snow capped mountain and icicles that dotted the ceiling of Chesterfield Mall as she stood in line with her family waiting for Santa.

After a long wait, she sat down with Santa, and wished for a stuffed animal panda bear she saw hanging on a tree. Her family took pictures, and as she left, he gave her a candy cane and promised to fulfill her wish.

This is one of senior Maciariello’s fondest memories of Chesterfield Mall, which is now largely closed and will be demolished in 2024 to build apartments and shops.

“It felt like the end of an Era,” Maciariello said.

The mall was also where Maciariello’s job was, at the AMC theater, which closed Thursday, May 18.

“We had a little last huzzah. I think everyone went and watched ‘Fast and Furious 10’,” Maciariello said. “We all had pizza, and then it was like, ‘hey it’s been a pleasure working with you all,’ and we had that bye moment.”

Maciariello said she enjoyed her job, but she didn’t realize it at the time.

“You kind of take it for granted,” Maciariello said. “It was a home away from home for me.”

Like Maciariello, Iman Mohamed, senior, is sad the mall is being demolished because she said she also had childhood memories there, like going to the food court, shopping and hanging out, but she said it is necessary for population growth.

“My first American Girl Doll was from the Chesterfield Mall,” Iman said. “We went to go see movies all the time. We went to the Cheesecake Factory a lot, but now there is nothing else really to do at the Chesterfield Mall.”

Cyndy Byous, chief financial officer for the district, said the mall is being redeveloped with the Chesterfield Regional Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Plan & Project, or the TIF.
Byous said property taxes on real estate involved were frozen on Oct. 21, 2022 and would continue to be frozen for up to 23 years.

“Because this is a blighted area, had it been left alone, Rockwood’s revenue from property taxes might have fallen as the value of the property continued to decrease,” Byous said. “The community, city and all taxing districts will benefit in the long run from additional taxes at the expiration of the TIF even though they forego taxes during the development phase.”

Byous said the area outlined by the TIF largely lies within the Parkway School District’s boundary, but there is still a portion in Rockwood’s boundary.

“The portion within the Rockwood School District is planned for the development of Wildhorse Village, which will include a mixture of condominiums, town homes and apartment units,” Byous said. “This housing will inevitably add students to the Rockwood School District, which will certainly carry a cost in terms of school district staffing, services and supplies.”

Byous said the Parkway School District estimated that 835 students will be added due to the new zoning, but city planners estimated 236 added students. Rockwood has estimated an addition of 43 to more than 150 students.

“An additional uncertainty that makes attendance prediction difficult is that the final development plan continues to be revised as the developer works out issues with the City of Chesterfield and former tenants of the mall. These revisions could impact original estimates,” Byous said.

Tim Lowe, senior vice president of Leasing and Development at the Staenberg Group said the Staenberg Group, owns 70.3 acres of land that the mall occupied.

Lowe said the plan is to replace the mall with a new urban, mixed use development that will include residential offices, retail spaces, restaurants, a supermarket, a park, multi-family condominiums and public amenities. The new development will be called Downtown Chesterfield.

“ It will benefit the city of Chesterfield dramatically,” Lowe said.

Lowe said it also will create an urban downtown area that Chesterfield currently lacks.

Lowe said the mall area including V-Stock, and the Cheesecake Factory will remain open until Friday, Aug. 30. And demolition is planned for the fall of 2024.

“We are currently going through our municipal entitlement process with the City of Chesterfield with a hope to start construction sometime by 2025 and open components of the project in phases starting 2027,” Lowe said.

This story was originally published on Marquette Messenger on December 18, 2023.