Steven Roberts says he realizes that other residential projects have been abandoned in downtown St. Louis, but he and his brother Michael are going forward with their 25-story Roberts Tower. Roberts told the local Association for Corporate Growth this morning:

That (other developers’ decisions not to go forward) is a real opportunity for our development, because we think the growth is there.

The tower, adjacent to the brothers’ Roberts Mayfair Hotel, will have 55 condominium units and is scheduled to open in the fall of 2009. Roberts said his company will start sales efforts this summer.

Roberts cited Downtown St. Louis Partnership figures showing 10,000 residents downtown, and predicted that the number will grow to 15,000 in the next few years.

In response to a question about Ballpark Village, Roberts reminded the audience that his company bid on the project before the Cardinals selected Cordish as lead developer. He said:

It’s a tough time for a big project. I don’t care if you’re the Cardinals or Cordish or whoever, it’s a tough time to go to the banks for money. If I were them, I would scale it back and do it in phases …. As a developer, sometimes you just have to step up and start a project. We did that with the Tower.