Tonight is opening night for the Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis’ new production of A Streetcar Named Desire, and I can’t wait. The festival’s 2021 staging of A Glass Menagerie in one of Williams’ past residences still tops my list of great theater—and I can’t wait to see what this new production brings. Read more about this year’s festival below.
And don’t miss my podcast interview with developer Michael Staenberg, whose new Downtown Chesterfield development could transform West County—and, he hopes, become a draw far beyond St. Louis. Staenberg is one of the area’s major philanthropists; I think you’ll enjoy hearing what he has to say.
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Sarah Fenske talks with Michael Staenberg about his ambitious development now under construction in Chesterfield. Listen on Apple Podcasts,Spotify, and YouTube »
Charges against Bar:PM's co-owner remain pending in St. Louis Circuit Court, well over a year after officers crashed their SUV into his watering hole. Photography courtesy of Bar:PM
THIS JUST IN
Judge orders Bar:PM prosecutors to turn over records
A long-simmering dispute in a high-profile St. Louis prosecution should finally see resolution on Aug. 15. That’s the deadline Judge Rochelle Woodiest gave prosecutors to turn over records generated by police in the Bar:PM case—or face possible sanctions.
Attorney Javad Khazaeli first requested the records in December 2023, just after St. Louis police officers crashed their SUV into the LGBTQ bar in South City and then arrested the bar’s co-owner, Chad Morris. But weeks turned into months. (“We’re on our third judge now,” Khazaeli notes.) That’s even though Judge Woodiest wrote in her order that such records should be produced within 14 days of being requested—and that not doing so violates due process rights. Prosecutors with the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office have said they’ve turned over everything they have, but need the cops to do the same.
As Khazaeli notes, Judge Woodiest’s order quotes from a prior order, stating that a prosecutor’s job is “not merely to win a case, but to see that justice is done.” He says, “That implies to me that she's going to hold them accountable, and the only real tool she has is to dismiss the case.”
In a statement, prosecutors said, "Throughout the discovery process, the Circuit Attorney’s Office has diligently and in good faith worked to fulfill its discovery obligations. We will make every effort to fully comply with the Court’s order as directed." They said they would not be dismissing the charges.
Morris’ arrest drew international attention, in part due to the shock of police crashing their car into a business and then arresting its owner for allegedly assaulting them. It later came to light that the arresting officer, Ramelle Wallace, had a history of brutality (he has since left the department). Says Khazaeli, “This case would be unbelievable to somebody who doesn't live in St. Louis, but it’s not unbelievable in St. Louis.” —S.F.
Michael Staenberg says he has no interest in living anywhere but St. Louis. Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
DEEP DIVE
Michael Staenberg thinks his Chesterfield development is a win for the region
Michael Staenberg’s Downtown Chesterfield project is the culmination of his three decades building trust with Chesterfield leaders—and, he says, is likely his final big development. The founder and president of The Staenberg Group has long been active in the West County suburb, bringing The District, The Factory, and The Hub (“I keep things simple,” he says of his naming conventions). But the $2 billion Downtown Chesterfield is something much grander, a plan to replace the Chesterfield Mall with up to 2,363 housing units, restaurants, and office space in a walkable streetscape.
Across the country, developers have built city-style neighborhoods from the ground up, with places like Cherry Creek in Denver and Crocker Park in suburban Cleveland offering first-floor restaurants and shops paired with housing above. But Staenberg’s plan is something new for St. Louis, and he says he’s surveyed the best of what’s out there to bring it to Chesterfield. “ It's all about the nuances,” he says in a new episode of The 314 Podcast. “Cherry Creek is a perfect example. I like their brick pavers. I like their signage. I met the gentleman that runs it. I said, ‘Do you mind if I copy this?’ ‘No.’ The center in Scottsdale has the best benches I’ve ever seen.”
He also insists that, even in a region seeing stagnant growth, his Chesterfield development won’t draw from other walkable areas, such as downtown St. Louis. "I hope that they come from Columbia, Missouri and say, ‘Hey, I wanna live here.’ Or Springfield,” he says. “I want more people to move here.”
Why It Matters: A native of Nebraska, Staenberg moved to St. Louis in 1983. While he says he has no desire to leave, he admits he’s grown tired of the infighting that has plagued the region. “Stop talking, do something, [and] make these projects happen for St. Louis,” he says. “That's what I'm trying to do.”
Staenberg believes St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page are doing a good job, but thinks the region needs more showstopping projects to show companies that this is a place their employees will be happy. He cites the Brickline Greenway now underway in the city of St. Louis as a great example and hopes Downtown Chesterfield can play a similar role. “This isn't trying to steal people from downtown or taking people from Clayton,” he says. “Let's bring more people here and allow the big corporations to see we have something. If they see something like this, they're gonna say, ‘Well, maybe we want to move our headquarters here.’”
What’s Next: The Staenberg Group completed mall demolition in May and hopes to have the first Downtown Chesterfield residents moved in by 2029. Listen to The 314 Podcast for more about what drives Staenberg’s philanthropy, the scotch he still drinks, and how he handles the high school question. —S.F.
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Missouri plan to eliminate temp tags is slowed by new software rollout (KMOV): The law to make car buyers pay sales tax upfront takes effect Aug. 28, but since the state’s new software isn’t ready, it will be late 2026 or early 2027 before the temp tags are jettisoned.
Francis Howell superintendent paid $230K to walk away lands new job (stltoday): An Oklahoma school district hired Mike Dominguez just three days after the Francis Howell board voted to pay him nearly a year’s salary to leave without saying why. Francis Howell hired Dominguez in March, but he never spent a day on the job.
80 new townhomes could be coming to The Hill (Fox2Now): McBride Homes wants to build the residences on four acres near Interstate 44 and Hampton Avenue. They could break ground by spring.
The cast and creative team behind A Streetcar Named Desire, which opens tonight. Photography by Suzy Gorman
Around Town
🏛️ THE JURY IS OUT
For those who recall the unnerving video of The Hudson’s roof blowing off during the May 16 tornado, here’s the acrimonious epilogue: A roofing firm that says it did a combined $517,272 worth of emergency roof repairs on The Hudson and five other nearby buildings owned by companies related to developers Vic Alston and Sid Chakraverty has sued, alleging that it hasn’t been paid because the developers kept the insurance proceeds for themselves. The attorney for Daniel Vazquez Amigo Roofing and Contracting LLC, Daniel Grabis, says that there’s a subtle yet more crucial claim in this lawsuit: that his client believes it has the right and obligation to do the permanent repairs, the scope of which hasn’t been calculated by insurers but could be worth tens of millions. Meanwhile, Michael Wilson, the lawyer for the defendants—i.e., both developers and their company, Big Sur Construction—says via email that the suit was “absolutely meritless” and that Amigo did “defective and non-code complying repair work,” so no payment is due until that’s corrected. “My clients take their commitments seriously,” Wilson writes, “but they won’t tolerate pressure tactics in response to a contractor’s failure to properly perform.” In September, Alston, Chakraverty, and their chief accountant, Shijing “Poppy” Cao, were indicted on accusations that they’d falsely claimed to have hired minority- and women-owned contractors and thereby got millions in city tax incentives. All three have pleaded not guilty; a trial has not been scheduled. —Nicholas Phillips
🥳 EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT
For many years now St. Louis has enjoyed a surprisingly robust sub-genre of local media produced by and starring personal injury attorneys. This includes the decidedly lo-fi On the Road with Brown & Brown, which aired for many years on late-night TV until Ed Brown’s 2020 death. The firm Brown & Crouppen has long produced the restaurant review show Three Lawyers Eating Sandwiches, which recently relaunched as a podcast. It’s good advertising for the firm in that it only feels a little bit like advertising. Way better than a commercial. And now, into the mix comes Simon Law’s The Case Doctors, which—in a move that is surprisingly unique in the realm of these local attorney shows—features actual discussions of the law. The video podcast is the trial attorney version of Love Line, with veteran lawyers John Simon and Alvin Wolff fielding questions from other lawyers about their civil cases. The two legal minds pump out nugget after nugget of legal advice, including this chestnut: “It’s not a dog bite case. It’s a dog attack case.” It’s not surprising to learn that the two trial attorneys have the gift of gab, but what really makes Case Doctors work is the number of wild anecdotes that Simon and Wolff have collected in their combined 80 years: opposing counsel lunging at them from across the deposition table; a jury member suffering a calamitous slip-and-fall in the jury box during a slip-and-fall case. The show is hosted by former KSDK reporter Christine Byers. “Anytime you start a new project like this, you worry about how entertaining it will be,” she says. “But I was quickly won over by John and Alvin’s rapport with each other within the first few minutes of recording.” —Ryan Krull
🎭 THE THEATRE SCENE
This year’s Tennessee Williams Festival St. Louis has a catchy title: Ten for Tenn. The name references the 10 years the homegrown festival has flourished, and to celebrate that achievement, executive artistic director Carrie Houk is going big. Programming this year includes not only Williams’ most acclaimed play, A Streetcar Named Desire, which debuts tonight at The Grandel, but also a host of panels, a Central West End walking tour, and, yes, a shouting contest to honor Marlon Brando’s famous line in Streetcar, which was basically a meme before memes were ever invented. The contest is free to enter. Just show up at the Grandel’s courtyard (3610 Grandel Square) at 5:30 p.m. this Friday. The winner will get two tickets to Streetcar (date of their choice) and an autographed cast photo. We can hear it now: “Stellaaaaaaa!!!!” Catch Streetcar through August 17. More details in SLM’s online story. —S.F.
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