Nelly is giving back to the Community with his own Sports Facility

Hip hop star Nelly's next big hit in the works is a multimillion-dollar athletic facility planned for a patch of farmland in northwest St. Louis County.

Nelly, a multiplatinum artist who grew up in University City, is partnering with NBA guard Larry Hughes, a St. Louis native, on plans to build a massive athletic complex in the Howard Bend redevelopment area of Maryland Heights.

The facility is still in the earliest stages of planning. Nelly's privately held development company in Overland, Nelly Inc., has 60 acres of farmland at Page Avenue, near the Maryland Heights expressway under contract for an undisclosed amount for the proposed facility. The star's development team presented their plans to Maryland Heights officials but has not yet requested zoning variances for the property. Some Maryland Heights officials traveled to Philadelphia at the end of October to visit an athletic facility similar to Nelly's proposed development.

Christopher "Topher" Jones, managing partner of Nelly Inc., declined to give specifics about the plan. "We're trying to keep this under wraps," he said. "This thing is in the baby stages. We're still in talks with the city."

Wayne Oldroyd, city planner for the city of Maryland Heights, also declined to comment. " I cannot comment on an application that has not been filed with the city," he replied in an e-mail.

Nelly's representatives would not disclose any specifics about the development plan, the building's size or its funding source.

Maryland Heights officials began working on developing Howard Bend a decade ago. The property area is roughly 13 square miles bounded by the Missouri River, I-70, and the city of Chesterfield. City officials adopted the Howard Bend Future Land Use Plan this spring, which prompted developers to begin assembling proposals for the land. A piece of property in the Howard Bend area sold in June for an industrial park for about $98,000 an acre. At that price, Nelly's land buy would be worth an estimated $6 million.

Business background

Born Cornell Haynes Jr., Nelly, 33, has sold more than 30 million albums and received three Grammy Awards.

Nelly parlayed his musical accomplishments to other business pursuits, including two clothing lines, Apple Bottom Jeans and Vokal, and an energy drink product, Pimp Juice.

Nelly lives in the St. Louis area and has deep local ties. He sponsors the Derrty Ballers, a St. Louis-based AAU basketball team. Nelly also has had a long connection with the NBA, dating back to July 2004 when he became part owner of Bobcats Basketball Holdings LLC.

Larry Hughes, who currently plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers, has been friends with Nelly since childhood. Hughes' mother still lives in the St. Louis area. Hughes played one season at Saint Louis University and set SLU's single-season scoring record with 670 points. Hughes was selected in the first round of the 1998 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Nelly and Hughes are partners on another St. Louis business development. The two, along with former Rams player Marshall Faulk and East St. Louis native Darius Miles of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, are investors on a new restaurant, Skybox, to open on Laclede's Landing. The restaurant will debut in the coming weeks at 800 N. Third St., the former site of Planet Hollywood.