After the long awaited construction of Costco on Olive Blvd. many people in U. City and nearby municipalities find it extremely convenient to shop there. But what most people don’t know is that there are new developments in the works right across the street from the new Costco. 

The city has been planning these developments since 2018 and U. City is now seeing its progress. The new establishments that are being constructed will be called the Markets @ Olive. The businesses are as follows: Raising Canes, Chase Bank, Chipotle, Aspen Dental, AT&T, Five Guys, Jersey Mike’s, Starbucks, Maple Street Biscuit, Chick-Fil-A, First Watch and Panera Bread

The QuikTrip, which many have been waiting for, also recently opened April 13th. 

Bwayen Smotherson, 3rd Ward Councilman, says that everything should be completed either the end of this year or beginning of 2024. He expresses his enthusiasm for the new businesses as they will hopefully increase the city’s tax revenue.

“My hope is that those revenues will help give more services to the residents of this city and help relieve the burden that residents had to bear for so long,” Smotherson said. “I’m also ho

ping to allow our residents the opportunity to get good jobs closer to their homes and access to great commercial services and products.”

City has been missing this level of revenue especially compared to cities like Clayton; however, with this new construction hopefully U. City will reap tax-paying benefits.

For example the school district will receive more funding, which is something that has been needed for decades. 

Despite the positive outcomes, there are certainly some downsides to this project. 

The term “clean up” could be used to describe what the developments are doing to the area; however, what this also describes is gentrification of the area. This is seen as a good or bad thing in some people’s eyes as it does eliminate some of the businesses that weren’t thriving but it also means tearing down heritage- and community.

There’s also the additional environmental issue that this project disregards. University City seems to be becoming more and more industrialized. With this new construction the city could have easily used one of the huge lots as a space to implement plant matter to the area. Despite its location being near a highway, a park or even a large garden would have brightened up the area, providing the children in the neighborhood another green space while also working to keep U. City an environmentally sound city.

City has completed a large portion of these developments already so it is too late to go back and make major adjustments; however it’s still important to recognize the city’s hard work. We don’t always get our way exactly as we want and there are always opportunity costs in life. The city will tremendously increase its revenue, jobs and overall quality due to the revenue, so you can look forward to the completion of the project next year and go out and support the city!

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   Alar

   The brand new Costco that in Oct. 2022 offers grocery. home goods, clothing and other needs. It additionaly has a gas station and a car repair service that can be accessed inside.