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The unanimous vote in favor of the tax increment financing means some of the new tax dollars generated by the $3 billion projects, which entails the redevelopment of the Chesterfield Mall, will be earmarked to pay for new infrastructure such as roads, sewers and more.

“This is a good night for Chesterfield,� Mayor Bob Nation said.

But the TIF faced opposition from area school districts that say they won’t have enough revenue to educate all of the new students. Department store Dillard’s also criticized the plan Wednesday, saying it feared the city will use eminent domain against its location at the mall to make way for the project.

The projects from Overland developers CRG and The Staenberg Group are poised to dramatically change the landscape of Chesterfield, a powerhouse shopping destination that is one of the wealthiest suburbs in the state of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.

CRG plans to build more than 800,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and amenity space and more than 565 luxury “residential units� at Chesterfield Parkway West and Wild Horse Creek Road.

The Staenberg Group envisions demolishing the defunct mall to turn the area into a “downtown� Chesterfield: a dense, mixed-use urban development that would add over 1 million square feet of office space; more than 2,000 apartments and townhomes; over 511,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and a grocery store; a 259-room hotel; and public amenities such as parks and bike paths, and pedestrian walkways and green space. The first projects could open by summer 2026.

But Dillard’s, which closed its Chesterfield location in 2016 because of flooding, criticized the plan and urged the City Council to postpone the vote, saying the area was not properly blighted. It said the developer told the retailer it was going to be included in the mall’s redevelopment.

Dillard’s said it “fully intends to open� and that it won’t sell to The Staenberg Group.

President Michael Staenberg declined to comment about Dillard’s but thanked “the citizens of Chesterfield for believing in us.�

The Parkway and Rockwood school districts also declined to comment on the vote and referred to an October letter they wrote that stated, in part, that a “residential TIF without proper financial support for the residents it will serve ... is not good for the community and may undermine the perceived value of development to potential residents.�

The TIF will divert some of the new taxes generated by the projects into a special fund used to pay for new infrastructure.

The TIF will be in effect for 23 years and freeze the property tax at the current level. As the real estate appreciates in value, the TIF will “capture� the increase in property taxes and use those funds for other uses. The TIF also will capture 50% of sales and utility taxes from the development for other uses.

A special 12-member TIF commission last month recommended the city approve the incentives. Three members of the commission — St. Louis County appointee Jay Nelson and the Parkway and Rockwood school districts’ appointees — voted against them.

Chesterfield has had just one other TIF, which paid for levee and road improvements while the city attracted new business to the area after major flooding in 1993. The city generated more revenue than expected and was able to retire the TIF about a decade early, officials said.