Concept map for WashU’s development of the land it will acquire from Concordia Seminary (City of Clayton)

WashU is proposing to relocate its baseball, softball, intramural, and club sports facilities to the land it is leasing from Concordia Seminary, as part of an effort to expand and modernize its athletic facilities. However, the plans are facing scrutiny from Clayton residents, who worry that the new facilities will create too much noise and traffic. 

WashU, Concordia, and the city of Clayton have published tentative planning documents to Clayton’s Planning and Development Services website, the first of which were released in May 2023. Despite publishing these proposals online, WashU has not officially confirmed any specific plans for the site. Many residents also believe that WashU has not been clear enough with its plan for the new development.

“There’s a lot of distrust in our communities because there’s a lot of blue sky,” John Hutkin, a resident of the Hillcrest neighborhood, said at a Clayton Board of Aldermen meeting on Nov. 12. “WashU doesn’t know what it’s doing, or when it plans to do it.” 

In June 2023, Concordia Seminary announced that it would redevelop its campus, downsizing its footprint by nearly half. Concordia’s campus spans from the DeMun shopping district to Big Bend Boulevard, and students live in single-family homes on the western portion of the campus. In the proposal, Concordia expressed its desire to build new, townhouse-style apartments on the east side of campus. WashU, then, would enter an 80-year lease with Concordia for the western portion of the land. The St. Louis Business Journal reported that the new development would cost the university an estimated $45 million.

Concordia Seminary redevelopment plan (Concordia Seminary)

In a September interview with Student Life, Athletic Director Anthony Azama emphasized that the new development would be used for both varsity and club sports facilities. 

“We want to [develop the Concordia land] in a way that is not going to only impact varsity athletics, but also students that participate in club and intramural sports,” Azama said in the September Q&A. “The long-term plan is going to be enhancing it to a certain level, to create a certain experience that our students are accustomed to.”

The parcel of land, located near the intersection of Big Bend Boulevard and Clayton Road, is known as the Big Bend Overlay. It would primarily house new baseball and softball fields and tennis courts for WashU varsity teams. The proposals also include plans for a new soccer-specific field for varsity soccer practices, a new student gym, and a new Field House with a capacity of 500 spectators. Club and intramural sports that use the South Campus or South 40 Intramural Field would move to new, dedicated fields on the overlay upon its completion.

Potential development plan for the South 40 (City of Clayton)

The Big Bend Overlay development plans are separate from the University’s recent purchase of the Fontbonne campus, announced by WashU in March. No plans have been announced for the development of the Fontbonne campus, which lies between South 40 and the overlay.

According to Anna Krane, the Director of Planning and Development Services for the City of Clayton, neither WashU nor Concordia have proposed a timeline for the project. However, Krane noted that WashU would not be able to start construction until the new Concordia housing is built. 

David Gipson, Clayton’s city manager, suggested at the Clayton Board of Aldermen meeting that the proposed overlay would align with the city’s vision for the future.

“Our vision for the neighborhood is for it to grow at a human scale, with dense development, active streets, and a walkable commercial corridor, while retaining the area’s historic character,” Gipson said. 

According to two club sports athletes, some club teams have already been notified that they will have the option to use Fontbonne’s facilities beginning next academic year, and would tentatively be allowed to use the Concordia fields once they are built. However, Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications Julie Flory emphasized that the University has not finalized its specific plan for the land. 

“We continue to explore possibilities for auxiliary athletic spaces on the site, but at this time, there are no specific plans to share,” she wrote in an email to Student Life.

Map of WashU expansion (City of Clayton)

The city believes that an overlay allows the city the most control over what they can do with the land, specifically limiting WashU to certain city-defined regulations. But some residents fear that the overlay district would allow WashU to have more authority over what they do with the land, in turn leaving Clayton’s government and residents with less control. Hutkin, alongside many other community members, argued that the city should issue a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) instead of an overlay zone. CUPs are subject to the scrutiny of the Board of Aldermen and the community and must follow existing zoning guidelines. An overlay zone would supersede the existing zoning of the area. 

“The overlay process only exacerbates the worries and fears of the neighborhood residents,” community member Larry Mooney said in his testimony. 

At the beginning of the Nov. 12 meeting, Clayton Mayor Michelle Harris remarked that she “hadn’t seen the chamber this full in years.” Nearly every attendee was in opposition to WashU’s plan for the overlay. 

“I look at [Clayton’s] relationship with WashU like I look at my relationship with my kids. I love my kids, and I love WashU,” Clayton resident Andrew Lieberman said at the Nov. 12 meeting. “But in my household, me and my wife pay the bills. We, the taxpayers of Clayton, also pay the bills. Like with my kids, sometimes you’ve got to say no.” 

The plan states that the Big Bend Overlay could only be used for athletic purposes, explicitly barring WashU from hosting commencement, convocation, WILD, and ThurtenE in the overlay. Further restrictions regarding lighting, noise pollution, and parking were discussed at the meeting. 

Clayton’s government has already added additional restrictions to the overlay from the initial proposal. WashU originally wanted the fields to have a maximum capacity of 5,000 spectators; the government has since amended that number to 600. The city proposed a provision banning future Division I or II competitions from taking place within the overlay after residents objected to a potential WashU athletic expansion. Clayton also established buffer zones between Big Bend Boulevard and the development, allowing for the same amount of tree coverage over Big Bend to protect native owls and hawks. 

Clayton residents listen at a Board of Aldermen meeting on Nov. 12. (Matt Eisner | Student Life)

As part of the renovations, WashU’s varsity baseball and softball fields would permanently be moved to the overlay. In 2023, both the WashU Softball Field and Kelly Baseball Field, which are currently located on the northern edge of the South 40, were renovated to add synthetic turf. As part of the proposed plans, both fields would be razed to make way for student dorms. Plans for the University’s usage of this land have yet to be officially announced.

Some residents are concerned that moving the fields to the overlay would create a traffic disruption on Big Bend Boulevard.

“The speed limit by my house is 35 miles per hour, because Clayton police couldn’t enforce it if it were any lower,” community member David Edison said at the meeting. “What are the police going to do when we bring in 2,000 screaming sports fans?”

On Nov. 22, Associate Vice Chancellor for Real Estate Mary Campbell responded to some of the community’s concerns and amendments in a letter to the Clayton community. The University expressed its interest in allowing athletic practices on the overlay to begin as early as 7 a.m., and revising provisions in the text about wildlife conservation. Most notably, the University pushed back against the amendment banning D-I and D-II athletic use of the land. 

“University varsity and club level student-athletes compete against Division I and Division II schools in several sports. Collegiate sports have changed significantly in recent years, and it is difficult to predict what changes may occur over the next several decades,” Campbell wrote. “Deleting [the amendment] would provide flexibility for the long-term, while neighboring residents would continue to benefit from the fixed restrictions that do not vary based on the classification of athletic activities on the site.”   

The Board of Aldermen will hear a second round of public comments during their next meeting, on Nov. 26. The Board of Aldermen are currently scheduled to vote on the proposal at the Nov. 26 meeting, but the vote will likely be delayed so the Board of Aldermen can consider the public comments.

This article was originally published on 11/21/24 at 8:21 pm. It was updated on 11/23/24 at 9:51 am with the university’s response to Clayton residents. It was further updated on 12/4/24 at 9:45 p.m. to provide more context about the city’s perspective on the overlay.