ST. LOUIS & CLAYTON | Project Rundown - Page 31

Arch City · #**601** Posted **Jul 21, 2013, 8:09 PM**

As corporate and tech firm interest in downtown St. Louis continues to rise, building owners have been renovating and sprucing up buildings.

500 North Broadway (Emporis.com), in downtown St. Louis, is in the midst of receiving a $10-to-15-million renovation. A new sleek entrance, renovation to the lobby and various floors is currently underway.

At 22 floors, 500 North Broadway dominates the intersection of Washington Avenue and Broadway in downtown St. Louis. Tenants include Hudson's Bay Co. IT, RBC Wealth Management, McJunkin Red Man Corporation, various law firms etc.

500 Broadway's neighbors are Stifel Financial Corporation and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Photo credit, pasa47

Arch City · #**602** Posted **Jul 25, 2013, 6:59 PM**

There's a steady trickle of firms either consolidating or moving their offices to downtown St. Louis from around the region. What makes this particular move intriguing is that Cassidy Turley - a commercial real estate firm - can now convince others to move downtown because it has put its money on downtown too.

Cassidy Turley confirms plan for downtown St. Louis office
7 hours ago • By Tim Bryant
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

600 Washington recently underwent a major renovation. (flickr.com)

A boss at Cassidy Turley, a nationwide commercial real estate firm, said Tuesday the company is excited “for many reasons” about its plan to open an office in downtown St. Louis.

Cassidy Turley said it will expand in October to the 600 Washington Avenue building downtown.

Building Blocks reported last Thursday that the city is prepared to forego up to $300,000 in earnings tax revenue to lure Cassidy Turley downtown.

The company said its 13,000-square-foot office on the 11th floor at 600 Washington will add to its seven offices in the region.

“We’re excited about our new office space for many reasons,” Tim Walsh, Cassidy Turley's managing principal in St. Louis, said in a statement. “This is a great building in a vibrant part of downtown and this location generates opportunities for job creation and business growth, which will benefit both Cassidy Turley and the city of St. Louis.”

At first, the downtown office will have 30 employees from Cassidy Turley’s accounting department. Space will be available for 30 additional employees.
“We see great value in developing our business in downtown St. Louis,” Walsh said. “By establishing and growing our roots here, we want to demonstrate our commitment to the success of the downtown market and encourage others to do the same.”

Last Thursday, the St. Louis Development Corp.’s board voted unanimously to authorize up to $300,000 to help Cassidy Turley with the project.

Eventually, the downtown office could have 90 employees in 18,000 square feet of space, according to a resolution the SLDC board approved.

Read More

Arch City · #**603** Posted **Jul 29, 2013, 5:13 PM**

Chesterfield: Midwest Shopping Mecca

According to retail experts, dueling outlets opening soon will make suburban Chesterfield (St. Louis) have among the highest concentration of outlet retail in the country. And within the same radius of these centers are Chesterfield Mall - a large regional mall - and Chesterfield Commons - one of America's longest and largest outdoor power centers at 1.5-miles and 2-million square feet.

See Video: Outlet Malls in Chesterfield only third of its kind in the country
Link: Store Listings For Each Center

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. (KSDK) - Brand names with a lot of bling are five days away from opening day.

Two new outlet malls, five miles apart from each other, will have the kind of stores you won't find in the Midwest under one roof.

Wacoal, Uno de 50, Armani, Kate Spade New York , Saks Fifth Avenue and 95 or so more high end outlet stores will open in the open air village like property under the Taubman name in Chesterfield on Friday.

St. Louis Premium Outlets opens on August 22. Retail experts are calling them the Midwest shopping mecca.

They tell NewsChannel 5 the malls are rare. Only two other cities, in Maine and California, have what Chesterfield has.

"In order to be successful, there will be more shoppers needed other than the local residents," said Chesterfield Mayor Bob Nation. He believes people will come from at least 300 miles away to shop here.

Retail experts believe the malls will create among the highest concentration of outlet retail in the country. They'll make Chesterfield a destination city.

A businesswoman who takes people on shopping tours around the world tells NewsChannel 5, she'll be bringing those tours here from across the country.

The mayor has heard the criticism the malls may not have enough people to support the business. He's hopeful they'll succeed. He said, the bling they'll bring will end up in city coffers.

Arch City · #**604** Posted **Jul 30, 2013, 7:15 PM**

From glow-in-the-dark plants to palm tree oil to bioenergy/renewable energy, plant science research is big in St. Louis - already home to the world's largest concentration of plant science PhDs. Now one St. Louis's most prominent plant science research centers is about to expand for a second time.

Posted on Tuesday, 07.30.13
Danforth Plant Science Center plans $45M expansion

BY JIM SALTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Video: Danforth Plant Science Center Expansion

ST. LOUIS -- The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in suburban St. Louis has a $45 million expansion plan that includes the construction of a new building that would accommodate more than 100 new researchers.

The center, in Creve Coeur, Mo., said Sunday that it plans to break ground early next year on the three-story building. The new center adds 80,000 square feet of space to the current 170,000 square feet. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

The Danforth center is a not-for-profit research institute that seeks to help humans through plant science. Work is funded through grants and revenue from sources that include the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. department of energy and agriculture, the Bill & Melinda Gates and Howard G. Buffett foundations, and others.

The addition will include flexible labs and accommodate robotics and other advances in research.

"The Center's expansion project is a major step in our long range plans to increase our impact through plant science," center president James Carrington said Monday. "The new addition will improve the capacity for high-level science in crop improvement, bioenergy, sustainable agriculture and plant biology. The new facilities will also help attract the best scientific teams as we expand in the years ahead."

Read more here

Arch City · #**605** Posted **Aug 1, 2013, 4:00 PM**

Below is progress on Stifel Financial's 'Bull and Bear' sculpture for outside of its downtown headquarters on Broadway @ Washington Avenue (Google Streetview). Stifel is a full-service brokerage and investment banking firm, established in 1890 and based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Shown is the clay. The final sculpt will be hot bronze.

CEO Ronald J Kruszewski and Stifel Nicolaus Brokerage has commissioned a larger than life sized 'Bull and Bear' sculpture, symbolizing the opposing markets, to be installed at the corner of Broadway and Washington in downtown St. Louis in September of this year. The statue will stand twelve feet tall and weigh approximately five tons. The design is very dynamic and emphasis will be on the word "conflict".

St. Louis, Missouri Nova Blue Studio Arts was commissioned by the bronze foundry to make the fiberglass mother mold on this project.

Harry Weber is an internationally acclaimed sculptor who has completed many public works of art across the country including several in St. Louis including the sculptures at the main gate of Busch Stadium, The Lewis and Clark on the riverfront, Dred and Harriet Scott in form of the Old Courthouse and Chuck Berry in the Central West End. Harry is chair of the Chesterfield Arts Public Art Steering Committee and was a panelist for the new University Sculpture Competition.

Source
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The Illusive Man · #**606** Posted **Aug 1, 2013, 5:09 PM**

This can't be all that's going on there. A sculpture and outlet malls? Where are the real projects?

Busy Bee · #**607** Posted **Aug 1, 2013, 5:19 PM**

Agreed. I don't give two shits about outlet malls in the exurbs, and the whole concept actually makes me nauseous. I'd like to see more updates of small infill projects around city neighborhoods. Can any locals make that happen?

Arch City · #**608** Posted **Aug 1, 2013, 6:30 PM**

Glass, paint and skin continue to be put on the new $53-million BJC Administrative Building in the CORTEX Research and Technology District as work continues on the new I-64 highway entrance ramps in to the emerging-former industrial area.

$186-million in projects are currently underway in CORTEX.

photo, pasa47/flickr

Arch City · #**609** Posted **Aug 1, 2013, 8:06 PM**

For the non-trollers only, here's progress on Phase I of the $80-million The Lofts of Washington University Loop Living project in the Delmar Loop.

The Lofts of Washington University is a proposed mixed-use development comprised of three residential apartment buildings on Enright Avenue and two mixed-use buildings featuring ground-floor retail with residential apartments on the upper floor, fronting on Delmar Boulevard. When complete, the project will include retail space on Delmar, 240-265 apartments that will house 550-600 occupants and underground parking for residents.

An international grocer and a diner are tenants announced so far.

photo, pasa47

The Illusive Man · #**610** Posted **Aug 1, 2013, 9:25 PM**

So defensive!

That project there is a little better. Ballpark Village is cute too. Keep up the good work!

Arch City · #**611** Posted **Aug 1, 2013, 9:44 PM**

Full-scale construction is underway at CityParc at Pine in downtown west.

Capstone Development is doing a $20 million full rehab of the Plaza Square 50 building into 149 apartments. The job is expected to take 14 months.

Capstone is renaming the 13-story building CityParc at Pine.

Plaza Square is six-building complex built in the late 60's. In recent years, various buildings have been renovated into modern standards.

Arch City · #**612** Posted **Aug 1, 2013, 11:03 PM**

Midtown redevelopment. 3949 Lindell burned to the ground about a year ago. It is now being rebuilt with new urban-style CVS next to it.

A year after fire, Lindell apartments about to reopen
July 26, 2013 12:15 am • By Tim Bryant

One evening last July, thick smoke streamed across St. Louis from a fast-moving five-alarm fire that burned most of an apartment complex in the Central West End.

Residents escaped unhurt, but more than half of the 197-unit building at 3949 Lindell Boulevard was so heavily damaged that it had to be knocked down to its concrete foundation.

After months of reconstruction, the building is about to reopen. The rebuilt four-story structure now has sprinklers in the attic, a firefighting feature absent in the original building.

Brad Bootz, manager of the 3949 Apartments, said Tuesday that building codes did not require the attic sprinklers but added that the owner wanted to install them to quickly knock down a fire.

“If this happens again, God forbid, we’re on top of it,” he said.

Tenants have already moved into a rebuilt section of the project that was less heavily damaged in the fire July 17, 2012. The rest of the $25 million to $30 million project will reopen in mid-August.

photo, pasa47/flickr

IMADreamer · #**613** Posted **Aug 1, 2013, 11:54 PM**

Arch City has someone who lives a couple hours from STL and only gets to town a half dozen times a year I appreciate your updates. STL is the closest major city to me and I love it. Keep them coming for those of us who aren't trolling.

NYC2ATX · #**614** Posted **Aug 2, 2013, 2:49 AM**

I agree that the projects here may seem like small potatoes to some, but then again every city is different and is evolving in a unique way. You can't expect a Wilshire Grand Tower or a Hudson Yards in this thread, at least not yet.

I can recommend a site I visit a lot that you all might find interesting. It's got great extensive coverage of all the restorations currently happening across the city, some of which are truly astounding...it's called the St. Louis Neighborhood Development Blog Do check it out.

Arch City · #**615** Posted **Aug 2, 2013, 8:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by IMADreamer

Arch City, as someone who lives a couple hours from STL and only gets to town a half dozen times a year, I appreciate your updates. STL is the closest major city to me and I love it. Keep them coming for those of us who aren't trolling.

Thank You. I post urban and suburban projects for people like you.

In my opinion, cities aren't islands so it is always important to know what's going on around every region - not just in the urban parts. $250-million in retail investments in a suburb is not a dollar store.

Arch City · #**616** Posted **Aug 2, 2013, 9:14 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by StatenIslander237

I agree that the projects here may seem like small potatoes to some, but then again every city is different and is evolving in a unique way. You can't expect a Wilshire Grand Tower or a Hudson Yards in this thread, at least not yet.

Very true to an extent, but keep in mind too, however, that prior to and during the recession St. Louis had some great proposals to come off paper into reality. In addition to recent announcements, many things are percolating behind the scenes. When finally announced, the latest proposals (corporate, hotel, residential and mixed-use) will be posted here, of course.

Also, it depends on what people are looking for. I'm sure the proposed Wilshire Grand Tower and Hudson Yards will be nice too, but I've posted on the two-phased $1.2-billion Washington University Medical Center expansion - one of the largest medical campus expansions underway in the country - as well as the still-under-construction CORTEX district, which is a major deal in the national scientific and research community. Total build-out development could reach $2.2-billion. If that is "small potatoes" to some then either some expectations are too high are they are simply trolling.

Whatever the case, I won't be deterred from posting what I want.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StatenIslander237

I can recommend a site I visit a lot that you all might find interesting. It's got great extensive coverage of all the restorations currently happening across the city, some of which are truly astounding...it's called the St. Louis Neighborhood Development Blog Do check it out.

I agree. stlnabedev is an awesome blog. Although a lot of the bigger projects (Chemical Building, Arcade, Roberts Tower etc.) are covered, he covers the nooks and crannies ie. "small potatoes" development in St. Louis City - and does an excellent job. I don't post all of those smaller projects here because they are too numerous - plus I haven't gotten permission to use his photos.

Overall, a lot of the numerous smaller projects, in my opinion, are better than the larger projects in totality because block-by-block St. Louis is restoring itself.

Too bad the recession slowed things down, but things are picking up again - both small and large projects.

Nonetheless, I will continue posting large, small, urban and suburban projects - including signs, sculptures and malls.

Arch City · #**617** Posted **Aug 2, 2013, 9:54 AM**

Outlet mall openings may shake up local retail scene
4 hours ago • By Kavita Kumar
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
08/02/13

They’re putting together shopping packages with downtown and Chesterfield hotels, and advertising at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport to entice travelers.

They’re hoping to attract shoppers within a five-hour drive — including Memphis, the Quad Cities, and parts of Arkansas — and offering a special savings pass for customers who can show they live at least 50 miles away.

Indeed, mall officials, who cut the ribbon today at the new Taubman Prestige Outlets Chesterfield, not only expect to draw people from across the St. Louis region, but also folks in town to visit local attractions or sporting events.

Tourists won’t mind making the 30-minute trek from downtown to the outlet center in west St. Louis County, said Colleen O’Neill, the center’s general manager.

“It may be different if it was an hour,” she said. “But if you build it, they will come.”

Besides, she added, people like to go outlet shopping when on vacation.

Many local residents have wondered how the St. Louis region, which already has a plethora of retail options, can support two new outlet centers opening this month in Chesterfield. One of the answers, mall operators say, is tourists.

That is expected to be part of the formula that will support not only the 310,000-square-foot center opening today — but also the 350,000-square-foot St. Louis Premium Outlets, about three miles down the road, that is set to open Aug. 22.

In total, these two outlet malls, with more than 120 stores between them, make up the most significant new retail development in the St. Louis region since the St. Louis Mills, now known as the St. Louis Outlet Mall, opened a decade ago.

So it’s not surprising they’re being closely watched by the other malls in the region — and the cities that depend on their sales tax revenue — which are on alert to see if the new centers will siphon away some of their sales.

Some analysts initially thought it was a recipe for disaster when developers of both malls decided to go forward with their projects — instead of one dropping out as had been expected.

But now they are wondering if there could be a silver lining in the close proximity of the two malls. Might that make Chesterfield into a sort of retail mecca?

Read More

The Illusive Man · #**618** Posted **Aug 2, 2013, 5:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arch City

Very true to an extent, but keep in mind too, however, that prior to and during the recession St. Louis had some great proposals to come off paper into reality. In addition to recent announcements, many things are percolating behind the scenes. When finally announced, the latest proposals (corporate, hotel, residential and mixed-use) will be posted here, of course.

Also, it depends on what people are looking for. I'm sure the proposed Wilshire Grand Tower and Hudson Yards will be nice too, but I've posted on the two-phased $1.2-billion Washington University Medical Center expansion - one of the largest medical campus expansions underway in the country - as well as the still-under-construction CORTEX district, which is a major deal in the national scientific and research community. Total build-out development could reach $1-billion. If that is "small potatoes" to some then either some expectations are too high are they are simply trolling.

Whatever the case, I won't be deterred from posting what I want.

I agree. stlnabedev is an awesome blog. Although a lot of the bigger projects (Chemical Building, Arcade, Roberts Tower etc.) are covered, he covers the nooks and crannies ie. "small potatoes" development in St. Louis City - and does an excellent job. I don't post all of those smaller projects here because they are too numerous - plus I haven't gotten permission to use his photos.

Overall, a lot of the numerous smaller projects, in my opinion, are better than the larger projects in totality because block-by-block St. Louis is restoring itself.

Too bad the recession slowed things down, but things are picking up again - both small and large projects.

Nonetheless, I will continue posting large, small, urban and suburban projects - including signs, sculptures and malls.

Cool, im glad St.Louis has some decent projects. Look forward to seeing updates on those.

And you're right. I can't hate on outlets, sculptures, and signs on buildings. It's the little things like those that go a long way.

Well, post away, then fella. We can never have too many outlet mall pictures.

Arch City · #**619** Posted **Aug 2, 2013, 6:50 PM**

Arch grounds renovation kicks off; will it meet 2015 deadline?
5 hours ago • By David Hunn

ST. LOUIS • After a decade of hope and months of public debate, the $380 million renovation of the Gateway Arch grounds is finally starting.

Dignitaries are set to turn a ceremonial shovel this morning. Construction starts as soon as next week.

The first project is largely infrastructure: Rerouting roads, building new bridges, and erecting concrete and steel across downtown’s Interstate 70, on which a park will soon sit over the highway.

Up next is a string of improvements stretching more than a half-mile, from Kiener Plaza downtown to the Mississippi riverfront.

Leaders charged with turning design into reality are already sweating. Their October 2015 deadline — the 50th anniversary of the Arch — looms just two years away.

“We’re doing our best to expedite the schedule, to move this thing along,” said Tom Bradley, the National Park Service’s superintendent for the grounds and museum. “It’s getting really aggressive.”

The project, as a whole, is the same as proposed to St. Louis taxpayers months ago:

A lid and park over the highway will link downtown to the Arch and the Mississippi River below. Bike paths and pedestrian walks will run through the park and down to an elevated Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard. A grass amphitheater and garden will replace concrete and steel in the north parking garage.

The Museum of Westward Expansion will expand, reaching toward downtown and getting a new entrance facing the city.

Civic leaders have pushed for improvements to the Arch grounds for almost two decades.

Then, in April, St. Louis and St. Louis County residents passed a 3/16-cent sales tax, a boost of about 2 cents on a $10 purchase. The tax is projected to raise about $9.4 million a year and fund a roughly $90 million bond issue. Great Rivers Greenway, the regional trails district, will oversee the disbursement of tax money.

Much of the rest will be raised by the nonprofit group CityArchRiver, created to spearhead the renovation. Foundation leaders say they now have $104 million in private funding and anticipate $26 million more by the end of September.

The first project — the “lid” over I-70 — is largely funded via state and federal transportation dollars.

Read More

Arch City · #**620** Posted **Aug 2, 2013, 7:25 PM**

Industrial land clearance continues in the Central Corridor's Midtown area.

Planned is new market-rate housing projects for students and professionals, retail including a rumored urban IKEA, research labs and offices, a new park, new streetscape and a new MetroLink station. Total new investments could reach more than $1-billion.

photo: pasa47/flickr