The Sunset Hills Board of Aldermen spent the majority of its four-hour long meeting March 12 discussing an ordinance that would allow for the construction of a new 88-room, five-story Hampton Inn Hotel on South Lindbergh Boulevard. 

The aldermen unanimously approved two ordinances at its March meeting: one for a planned development on a 4.4 acre tract at 3660 S. Lindbergh Blvd., as well as the necessary conditional use permit required for the development. The approval allows HR Sheevam, the property’s owner, to construct a new hotel directly behind an existing 78-room Comfort Suites hotel, also located at 3660 S. Lindbergh Blvd., which is also owned by Sheevam. This is the second phase of development on the property, as the first phase included the Comfort Suites hotel, which opened in December 2021.  

Before the board approved the ordinances, however, five conditions were added. The first was to add light shielding before final occupancy on the two lights located closest to the southeastern corner of the property, as long as adding the shields does not result in the lighting plan no longer meeting city code. If additional lighting shields are required on additional light fixtures, they may be added as well, as long as they are also city code-compliant. 

This was added as a condition after a resident spoke to the board at its Feb. 13 meeting, explaining the need for shielding as she and her family live near the property, and can see almost every light due to the trees being taken down for the development. Because the house is on a hill, new trees would not suffice as coverage as they would need to be much taller to shield the residence. 

The next two conditions centered around parking, with the first ensuring that Sheevam provides 56 additional parking spaces within the first three months after securing a land disturbance permit from Sunset Hills and St. Louis County. On top of that, he must provide a “net” additional 40 parking spaces within six months after securing the permit. 

The second parking condition ensures that the hotel property has no permanent fixed physical barriers in the parking lot. Much of this is due to the slight contention between Sheevam and his lawyers, and the Syberg Group, who own Helen Fitzgerald’s on the neighboring property. 

Though Sheevam technically owns both parcels of land, he leased a portion of one of the parcels to the Sybergs in the early 90s. The Sybergs have since been trying to separate the two parcels, subdivide them and become full owners of the property that their restaurant is on – which is allowed in the contract that they have with Sheevam – though because the Comfort Suites hotel is technically still under a temporary occupancy permit, they have been unable to file for a boundary adjustment to separate. Not being able to separate the parcels has caused some friction between the two parties, so the condition was added in an attempt to smooth things out. 

The last two conditions were spearheaded by Ward 3 Alderman Cathy Friedmann at the board’s February meeting when the ordinances were read for the first time. She requested that Sheevam will not grant any property cross access rights to the residential lots to the south due to safety concerns, as well as no construction on Sundays.