Real Estate

Clay Price Corner Shopping Experience Could Match La Jolla, Palm Beach or Beverly Hills

Lou Cella and his partners are working feverishly to bring the Clayton & Price Corner back to life.

Shopped lately in Winnetka or Kenilworth on the North Shore of Chicago; Westchester in New York City; La Jolla in San Diego or Beverly Hills in California or Florida’s Palm Beach?

By early to mid-summer, Ladue developer Lou Cella of Southwestern Enterprises, Inc. thinks Clay Price Corner at Clayton and Price roads can be up and running matching that kind of experience.

Cella and family, dad Charlie, brother John and sister Harriet are looking near and far to fill the 14,000 feet of retail space in the long-abandoned Busch’s Grove. The name will exist no more. The last few years have been tough on the grand old dame.

The restaurant folded for the final time in 2010; an upscale grocery store didn’t catch hold and several restaurants have misfired, trying to locate to this abandoned site.

Talking to anyone who will listen

“We’ve been talking to people in Maine; in Palm Beach, we are going to get upscale boutique shops to take these spaces,” pledged Cella.

“Consistent with what we have at Clay Price and the MarketPlace and the DESCO Colonial Market Place, high-end boutiques are the type of tenants that thrive in Ladue and should be here. That’s our region’s finest shopping,” he said proudly.

Cella and his partners have bent over backwards for their tenants at Clay Price Center and the MarketPlace in Ladue. When the economy tanked the last few years, they willingly lowered rents to keep those shops afloat.

The highway project was no help

The rebuild of I-64/40 ultimately hurt the Ladue economy. “Cars were jammed going up and down Clayton Road during that construction, but the drivers didn’t stop off to shop,” he recalled vividly.

But there’s no white towel throwing in this organization. The owners are going to squeeze lemons into lemonade.

“When we divvy up the space and have hallways and common areas we’ll have about 12,000 feet of usable space,” said Cella.

Cella envisions a coffee shop in one corner of the building. The northwest corner space is ideal for a tenant. Soaring ceilings and windows bathed in brilliant sunlight makes a perfect environment. “We hope to have various tenants, each taking around 2,000 square feet. That would be ideal,”  he said.

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Miller exits stage right

When Busch’s Grove owner Lester Miller pulled up anchor, he left behind two gleaming kitchens. Over time, restauranteurs from around the U.S. knew of the quality of equipment and bought them bit by bit.

There’s still a framework of a kitchen on the north end of the building. A restaurant, with outside dining is not out of the realm of possibilities. Cella would like to see the fabled outdoor screened-in cabins come to life once more.

The property features acres of parking space.

"We still have work to do on cleaning out the space. The gleaming stone and wooden floors just need polishing."

The nuns at the Carmelite Monastery next door are praying hard for this rebirth. You can’t do any better than that.

Southwestern Enterprises is paying handsome commissions for new leases. Got someone in mind? Then call 314-241-1945 and Lou Cella will make it happen.


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