ST. CHARLES – When the Streets of St. Charles development was approved by city officials in 2006, it was envisioned as a New Urbanism project complete with housing and retail sharing a quaint setting and walkable community.

After several economic setbacks, the long-awaited project is finally getting off the ground — but appears to be deviating from its original concept.

On 26 acres, there sits a newly finished three-story building. Its bottom floor has a Five Guys Burgers and Fries store that opened on July 31. There is additional space for a yet-to-be opened Tucanos Brazilian Grill and Prasino, a restaurant that developer Cullinan Properties says will feature “eco-chic” contemporary American food. There also are plans for a dental office and a massage spa.

Streets of St. Charles was initially undertaken by Whittaker Builders, which convinced the city that the project would offer the convenience of another Whittaker project: New Town. That St. Charles project has a mixture of about 900 homes and apartments, churches, restaurants and a market. Streets of St. Charles, however, was promoted to have a more urban feel.

The vision changed when Cullinan of Peoria, Ill., took over the Streets of St. Charles project in 2007, along with a $55-million tax-increment financing subsidy from the city. Whittaker, a St. Charles builder that struggled as the housing market faded, filed for bankruptcy in 2009, at the height of the housing crash.

After a ceremonial ground breaking in November 2007, Cullinan repeatedly sought the city’s approval to change Whittaker’s plan for the area, which was previously home to Noah’s Ark restaurant and motel. Plans for a high-rise condo tower were eliminated. The number of planned residences dropped from a high of more than 800 in 2007 to just under 600 now. Under Cullinan, the number of buildings shrank and the amount of parking grew from Whittaker’s initial plan.

Some city officials grumbled about the changes.

“We would like to see more of an emphasis on taller buildings,” then-Mayor Patti York said in 2009. The planning and zoning commission chairman said the project was “going in the wrong direction.”

Throughout, Cullinan said changing market conditions led to the need to alter the development plan.

Shawn Luesse, the company’s project manager at Streets of St. Charles, said this week that despite the plan shifts, the development will still be a place for people to live and work.

At the new office building, Art Institute of St. Louis fills the second floor, where students are enrolled in programs to learn fashion, photography, cooking and advertising. A financial planner, a CPA firm and Cullinan’s local office occupy most of the third floor.

Next to the office building, construction is under way on a five-story building that will have more than 300 apartments over street-level shops. Also under way is construction of a five-level garage for 1,250 vehicles. Later plans call for a second parking garage, medical offices, a hotel and restaurants in a more typically suburban layout with parking lots. Cullinan said the project could eventually cost more than $300 million.

Luesse, who was uncertain on when the whole project would be completed, said market forces will dictate the project’s details and pace. Demand for apartments already has prompted Cullinan to enlarge the residential building under construction, he added.

“There’s a lot of flexibility,” Luesse said. “We want to be able to meet the demands and changing conditions.”

Councilwoman Laurie Feldman, whose ward encompasses Streets of St. Charles, said Cullinan never tried to duplicate Whittaker’s initial plan.

“It’s very difficult to compare apples and oranges,” she said.

But Feldman added that Cullinan has “maintained, I believe, the theory of work-live-play and, to me, that’s the theory of New Urbanism that Whittaker was promoting.”

She said she believes Cullinan’s project will coexist with the small businesses along historic Main Street, which is a mile north of Streets of St. Charles. Some Main Street business owners agreed.

Babette Bohnert-Hall, owner of Master’s Pieces, a gift shop at 816 South Main, said the historic district is a shoppers’ destination unlikely to be hurt by the Cullinan project.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect us at all,” she said. “People come for the specialty shops here.”

Jim Gilreath, the handyman at Carol’s Treasure Chest, at 719 South Main, said the historic district has “a whole different atmosphere” than Streets of St. Charles.

“People might go there to check out a new restaurant, then come here to shop,” he said.