“We’re trying to leave it as open-ended as possible to allow for creative uses, for creative proposals to come out of this,” he said. “The priority is to bring services and amenities to the area not only for our faculty, students and staff, but for the adjacent neighborhoods and the surrounding St. Louis community.”

In addition to the half-billion-dollar hospital, slated to be complete in late 2020, the Lawrence Group is working to prepare the old Federal Mogul site nearby for its $187 million City Foundry development of entertainment, retail and offices. Green Street Development also has plans for offices in the old Armory building across Highway 40 (Interstate 64).

The proposed Chouteau Greenway, if backers can find funding, is also anticipated to interact with the site, Goedeker said. Already, the university has heard from people interested.