St. Louis – Developers Larry Chapman and Paul McKee Wednesday unveiled their plans to revive the long-stalled Bottle District north of downtown, and won the blessing of a key aldermanic committee to make it happen.

They hope to start construction by next summer on a $190 million development that would turn the empty 17-acre site north of the Edward Jones Dome into seven square blocks of shops, homes and offices, likely with a hotel and some parking garages.

It's a far more modest plan than Chapman and partner Bob Clark had when they bought in to the Bottle District in 2007. But, he said, it's also far more feasible.

“We've redesigned the project to meet today's market,” he said. “The projects we were doing five or six years ago were too aggressive, too optimistic.”

They've also brought McKee into the fold. Clark, Chapman and McKee partner in developing NorthPark, the 550-acre business park east of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. And McKee has been working for years on his NorthSide Regeneration project, which covers a huge swath of land nearby.

Now, his NorthSide Regeneration LLC will buy the Bottle District site and co-develop it. It's a partnership that has worked well before, said McKee.

“We're really different and we bring different strengths,” he said.

When asked by Alderman Scott Ogilvie, Chapman wouldn't say how much NorthSide will pay, though a development agreement filed with the city lists acquisition costs of $3 million. Whatever the purchase price, McKee may be able to seek reimbursement for it and some other costs under the state's Distressed Areas Land Assemblage tax credits program. It was not clear Wednesday if the deal would qualify. But if it does, McKee – who's already tapped the program for $28 million for NorthSide – said he'd apply.

“We're always trying to drive the costs down to bring in tenants and create jobs,” he said.

Wednesday's vote, by the aldermen's Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee, also clears the way for $51.5 million in tax increment financing for the project – the same size TIF as was approved for the Bottle District in 2005. If the whole board OK's the TIF, Chapman said he plans to use $20 million of it to help fund a first phase, set to start construction next summer. They plan to finish the whole site by 2017.