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The seminary is pitching single-family homes on 27 acres of its west campus along Big Bend Boulevard, to replace student housing it is moving east near its chapel. And the Clayton School District is considering building a new elementary school there, too, to replace one or more of its three existing grade schools.

Officials said no decisions had been made and no details set. But if advanced, the project would be Clayton’s first new residential subdivision in decades.

“New housing means more people, more potential kids in the school district, more property taxes,� Mayor Bridget McAndrew said. “It’s exciting but it’s a very preliminary discussion and I’m sure there will be a lot discussions with the community moving forward.�

Both Concordia and the Clayton School District announced their ideas for the site this week, months after WashU withdrew a request to rezone the site for an athletic fields complex that residents complained was vague in its details and would cause traffic, noise and light disturbances.

WashU had wanted to consolidate onto the Concordia property its baseball and softball fields now at Forsyth Boulevard and Big Bend, the intramural sports played at the old Christian Brothers College High School on Clayton Road, and make the new fields available to Concordia for use. The university pitched several options for the site and spent more than a year negotiating with Clayton officials for a new, special zoning district in place of its current residential zoning before withdrawing the request in January.

Concordia said this week that it still has the “framework of an agreement� with WashU to use land cooperatively, but determined a residential subdivision is “more closely aligned� with residents’ wishes and “can be acted upon with a reasonable period of time,� according to a news release.

Residents who opposed the WashU sports fields plan said they welcomed the change.

“A subdivision and a school are much better for our neighborhood and much better for our children,� said Angela Liebermann.

Jacqueline Weil, who helped organize opposition to the WashU plan, said she supported the concept but wanted to see more details.

“I think it would be great,� Weil said. “But I don’t know who they’re going to get to build the houses, how they’re going to design them, how big they’re going to design the lots — there are a lot of questions at this point.�

Concordia spokeswoman Vicki Biggs declined to say how many houses could be built on the seminary’s campus. The Board of Regents last month authorized a contract with a consulting firm and expects to review a final plan in August, she said.

Meanwhile, Clayton School District is considering buying part of the land from Concordia to build a new elementary school under a facilities plan designed to address the district’s needs over the next 15 to 20 years.

The plan prioritized changes to its three elementary schools, which range from 96 to 52 years old, because of their aging infrastructure and limited space, including Captain Elementary, the newest of the three and closest to the Concordia site. A study to determine whether to renovate each school or build anew is expected to be complete by fall.

The possible purchase comes more than a year after the district cancelled a contract to purchase the headquarters of global footwear company Caleres for $20.9 million after fierce community backlash against taking the property off the city’s tax rolls. The district did not explain how it would have used the property.

The land owned by Concordia is already tax-exempt and a school would fit the residential zoning use, Superintendent Nisha Patel said in a letter to parents. And it would cost less to build on because of “minimal demolition and preparation requirements,� she said.

“Although no decisions have been made, the property could offer the space needed for a modern, flexible school with innovation labs and open learning areas — if the study concludes that new construction is the best path forward,� Patel said.

Liebermann, whose kids had completed grade school at Captain, said the school had often felt small and cramped and that officials discussed challenges to renovating the building in recent meetings.

“Now the school could have a place to grow,� she said.