"It is to be open maybe late spring next year, probably summer more likely," Jeffrey Sanders, the NAI DESCO broker who represented the land's seller, told Spectrum News in late August. "It's tied to the road improvements on Lake Saint Louis Boulevard."
That second sentence explains the whole project. Steel can go up quickly on the 27.34 acres Costco bought near Hawk Ridge Circle and I-64, and the store still won't open early. The opening date hangs on about 2,065 feet of city road, and the contract for that road was put together to keep building through the coldest months of the year. For anyone who uses the boulevard south of the interstate, the next seven months matter more than the store's own construction schedule.
The Store Was Always Going to Wait on the Road
The plan was set at the Planning and Zoning Commission hearing on December 4, 2025. Residents raised concerns about traffic on Lake Saint Louis Boulevard. According to the meeting minutes, Mayor McKinney told the room that "the original improvement plan has been moved up approximately 9 months to accommodate increased traffic." Costco's representative then said construction would start at the same time as the street improvements, but the store "will not be open until the road construction is complete."
The Board of Aldermen approved the site plan later that month. Mid Rivers Newsmagazine reported an almost 195,000-square-foot store, more than 900 parking spaces, and a gas station. By August 2026, Spectrum described a 200,000-square-foot facility with a traditional warehouse store and a market delivery operations component. It will be the second Costco in St. Charles County and the sixth in the St. Louis region.
The minutes also cover two questions about life next door. Most trucks will come from Costco's distribution center, with some smaller local delivery trucks, and deliveries are planned for mornings before the store opens. Runoff will be filtered underground before it reaches the detention basin.
A Road Contract Built for Cold-Weather Work
The city's bid package for Lake Saint Louis Boulevard Widening and Resurfacing Phase 1 shows the plan most clearly. On September 15, 2026, Addendum #1 made two changes beyond moving the bid date. It replaced the asphalt base pavement with concrete base pavement "to facilitate wintertime construction operations," and it added an incentive/disincentive clause meant to speed up completion.
The clause gives its reason directly. It accelerates the work "for the purpose of facilitating increased traffic as a result of new development on the corridor as quickly as possible." It also counts "closure time" broadly. Any day the full five-lane section is not open counts, including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, and so does a day when two-way traffic flows but cones or staging keep some lanes shut.
The revised schedule in the same document gives these dates:
| Milestone | Date in the bid documents |
|---|---|
| Bids opened | September 25, 2026, 2:00 p.m. |
| Anticipated construction start | November 16, 2026 |
| Contract completion | May 31, 2027 |
| Latest any closure may run | May 31, 2027 |
That last row is firm. The contract says that "under no circumstances" will the bid closure time be allowed to keep any part of the boulevard closed past May 31, 2027. The May 31 ceiling and Sanders's "late spring, probably summer" estimate fit together. A store that can't open before the road is finished, on a road that has to be finished by the end of May, points to an opening sometime around summer 2027. Costco has not announced a date.
Older city materials describe the boulevard differently. A St. Charles County funding application talks about widening from two lanes to three and leaving room for five later. The current bid language defines the finished job as five complete, drivable lanes. The application also describes realigning Freymuth Road and Hawk Ridge Trail and removing the north leg of Hawk Ridge Circle, so some familiar turns will change when the work is done.
What the Contract Promises Drivers This Winter
The traffic rules in the bid package spell out what the work zone is supposed to look like from behind the wheel, from just north of Freymuth Road to just south of Hawk Ridge Circle South.
- At least one lane each way. One lane in each direction has to stay open at all times, apart from brief exceptions.
- Holiday breaks. Unless the engineer approves otherwise, every lane has to be open from noon on the last working day before Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day until 6 a.m. on the first working day after. Long-term closures required by the project's phasing are the exception.
- A week's warning. Where a changeable message sign is provided, it has to announce detours or lane closures one week before they start.
- A cap on backups. The contractor has to take steps to ease traffic once delays pass 10 minutes. If queues reach 15 minutes, the contractor has to review what caused them and change its operations.
- No unnecessary closures. Lanes stay open until materials are on hand and the crew is ready to keep working until the lane reopens.
Walkers and cyclists are covered too. The contract requires signed accessible detours to be in place before work starts in each stage, and the scope includes rebuilding the sidewalk and shared-use path along the corridor.
Two Bids, and an Award Still Pending
Two contractors bid on the job. The city's bid tabulation lists Karrenbrock of New Melle at $4,705,566.40 and Lamke of Marthasville at $8,353,157.98. The higher bid is roughly 78 percent above the lower one, a wide gap on a stretch of road less than half a mile long.
A low bid still has to clear an approval step. The bid notice says the contract goes to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder, "subject to confirmation by MoDOT and the City." The project uses federal funding and requires MoDOT-qualified bidders. The Board of Aldermen had an agenda posted for its October 5 meeting, and the city's Agenda Center had no minutes posted for it yet. Until those minutes or a city announcement confirm an award, Karrenbrock is best described as the low bidder. Oates Associates is the engineer of record.
The Second Work Zone on the Same Commute
For many residents the boulevard is just the first part of the drive, and the interstate past it is busy too. MoDOT is adding a third lane in each direction on I-64 between the I-70/I-64 interchange and Route K. That work moved eastbound lanes between Prospect Road and Lake St. Louis Boulevard starting May 5, along with work on the Peruque Creek bridge. Mid Rivers Newsmagazine reported a July 1 target for the pavement work and about four weeks for the bridge.
Lane closures are still running this fall. MoDOT's weekly construction report for October 8 to 14 lists these:
- One eastbound I-64 lane closed from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. between Prospect Road and Route K.
- One westbound lane closed from 8 p.m. to 9 a.m. between Route K and Prospect Road.
- Overnight closures in both directions on I-64/Route 61 between I-70 and Prospect Road.
The bigger change starts today. The westbound I-64 exit ramp to eastbound I-70, exit 1B, closes for 30 days beginning Monday, October 12, for reconstruction of the I-70/64/U.S. Route 61 interchange. MoDOT's posted detour keeps drivers in the left lane of westbound I-64 at exit 1A, has them exit at Route Z, exit 209, and turn around to head east on I-70.
If the ramp reopens on its 30-day schedule, it will be back in mid-November, about when boulevard work is expected to start on November 16. Because the ramp work is weather permitting, the interstate detour could still be in place when the boulevard work zone opens.
What Finished Looks Like, and What Sits Behind It
The contract's definition of "substantial completion" covers more than pavement. Before the job counts as done, the final asphalt surface, pavement markings, permanent signs, concrete sidewalks, multi-use paths, ADA curb ramps, the Freymuth connector pavement, landscaping, tree planting and site restoration all have to be finished. So when the cones come down, the corridor will have its landscaping and path in place along with the new lanes.
There is more land behind the store. Costco's 27.34 acres came out of a larger tract owned by MRNF, Inc. Sanders told Spectrum that the broker is marketing 127 acres behind Costco and another 21 acres next to the site, and that "we have interest in both those parcels now." Spectrum's report named no project for that land. Any future proposal would add traffic to a boulevard that will have just been widened to five lanes.
If you live near Hawk Ridge or Freymuth Road and want to know how a five-lane boulevard and a new warehouse store might change the way buyers see your street, Bliss Homes follows this corridor closely, and we're glad to share what we're seeing. Start with our free instant home valuation, and we'll follow up with a closer look at your address.
