R.G. Brinkmann begins $35 million Forsyth Centre
R.G. Brinkmann Construction Co. began construction this spring on Forsyth Centre, a $35 million, 14-story office building overlooking Shaw Park in Clayton, Mo. The 245,000-square-foot high-rise was designed by ACI Boland, Inc. and developed by Forsyth Centre Associates, L.L.C., a group headed by Tony Novelly, chairman of Apex Oil Co.
Forsyth Centre, which is scheduled for completion in 2000, will sit on the corner of Forsyth Boulevard and Maryland Avenue, complementing the adjacent Jefferson Smurfit Centre office building. An expanded 700,000-square-foot parking garage with 2,303-car capacity is included in the project.
Unity Health dedicates first hospice house in St. Louis
St. Anthony’s Medical Center has become home to the first freestanding hospice house in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Unity Health’s de Greeff Hospice House, which opened this past May, is devoted to providing care and support to persons living with a terminal illnesses. The hospice house provides a home-like setting to those who do not have family or resources that enable them to live out their final days in a private home.
The house is named after Fern and Russell F. de Greeff, the major benefactors of the facility; total donations for the project from more than 500 donors exceeded $2 million. The 10-bedroom house, which is on a four-acre wooded lot on the St. Anthony’s campus, is expected to accommodate up to 200 terminally ill patients each year.
“Part of Unity’s mission is to promote the spiritual, emotional and physical well-being of the communities we serve,” says James Hardman, president and chief executive officer of Unity Health. “The de Greeff Hospice House will be an important part of our ministry to the dying and a valuable resource to the St. Louis community.”
Construction of $22 million Dierbergs Fenton Crossing underway
Dierbergs and Sansone Group have joined forces in the development and construction of the new $22 million, 150,000-square-foot shopping center known as Dierbergs Fenton Crossing. The project, being built on 31 acres at the corner of Highways 141 and 30, is expected to bring more than 300 permanent jobs in 24 stores to residents of Fenton.
“I predict that Dierbergs Fenton Crossing will become the cornerstone of the city,” says Fenton Mayor Fran Ruzicka, who participated in the groundbreaking ceremony last spring. This is the third time that Sansone Group and Dierbergs have collaborated on a shopping center. The store will become Dierbergs’ 18th in the St. Louis area, and is expected to open by summer 2000.
In addition to the supermarket, Sansone Group announced seven other occupants of the shopping center: B. Donovan’s St. Louis Grill; Dobbs Tire & Auto Centers; Mail Boxes Etc.; Hollywood Video; St. Louis Tan Company; On Campus Salon & Day Spa; and Creative Nails.
Coca-Cola breaks ground on division headquarters and sales/ distribution center in St. Charles
Coca-Cola has broken ground on its new $13 million division headquarters and sales and distribution center in the city of St. Charles. The 231,000-square-foot facility will sit on 52 acres of land in the Elm Point Business Park, and will employ approximately 550 people.
Coca-Cola, which is moving the facility from Maryland Heights to the city of St. Charles, is the fifth national business to locate regional operations to the Business Park, a 250-acre site owned and developed by Bakewell Corporation. Last year, St. Charles had 1 million square feet of industrial space in various stages of development and $186 million in commercial, residential and industrial development.
Construction underway on SSM Health Care Arena
Construction work on the newly named SSM Health Care Arena, a new 10,000-seat multipurpose facility located in suburban St. Louis, is proceeding on schedule for completion in mid-September, with the grand opening slated for October 1.
The investment group, Family Arena Management Enterprise LLC (FAME), has entered into a licensing agreement with St. Charles County. FAME will operate the building and more than 80 percent of the debt service; the remaining 20 percent will come from the County and City of St. Charles portion of the sales tax generated by the facility. Station Casino St. Charles donated 57 acres of land for the project.
Mark Seward, CFE, was recently named chief executive officer for the Arena.
The SSM Health Care Arena will be the home base of the St. Louis Swarm, an International Basketball League franchise, and the Missouri River Otters, a United Hockey League franchise. In the summer of 2000 a World Indoor Soccer League team will also join the SSM Health Care Arena. The facility plans to host a variety of other events including concerts, ice shows, motor sports, family shows, rodeos, trade shows and conventions. It is located in St. Charles on the South river road between I-70 and the future Page Avenue extension.
Ranken Technical College expansion completed
Ranken Technical College has formally dedicated the college’s newest expansion, the W. Ashley Gray, Jr. Technology Center. The 35,000-square-foot, four-story addition to the administration building houses two of Ranken’s recently expanded programs, the computer networking technology program and the carpentry and building technology program. The addition also includes much-needed general education classrooms and a larger learning center and library facilities.
Ranken’s board of trustees has named the facility in honor of W. Ashley Gray, Jr., a member of the Ranken board for 20 years and the current chairman. Gray led the $7.3 million Growth and Expansion Campaign that made the facility possible.
“We built this facility to help meet the tremendous unfulfilled need for skilled workers in this community,” Gray says. “Ranken had committed to increasing its enrollment by 25 percent over five years in response to the growing demand for our graduates.” The expansion represents the first major construction project undertaken by Ranken since the original buildings were constructed in the early 1900s.
Central Institute for the Deaf begins construction on new school
Central Institute for the Deaf’s (CID) $30 million capital campaign for a new school, research and clinical facilities is nearing its goal, and construction on the new 42,000-square-foot campus is underway on Clayton Avenue just East of Euclid.
CID received considerable contributions from Emerson Electric Co., the Anheuser-Busch Foundation, the August A. Busch III Charitable Trust, Charles and Joanne Knight, and Laurence L. and Virginia Browning. In recognition of the donations, CID will name the new family center the Joanne Parrish Knight Family Center; the courtyard on the new campus will be named the Anheuser-Busch Courtyard, and CID’s new research facilities will include the Browning Video Microscopy Complex.
The school section, known as Phase I of construction, is slated to open in January 2000. In addition to the new family center, the school will house a full-size gymnasium, music, art and discovery rooms, and a learning library and computing center. The new school will accommodate up to 120 students.
In Phase II, CID will build a 65,000-square-foot facility to house the Fay and Carl Simons Center for Biology of Hearing and Deafness, a cafeteria, meeting rooms and offices. The current 31,000-square-foot school building, constructed in 1928, will be renovated to house the CID Clinic, graduate education programs and additional research facilities.
Frontenac Bank opens new facility
Frontenac Bank, the first bank started in the St. Louis area in more than two years and the only bank located in Earth City, has opened its new facility in Earth City. Clayco Construction Co. was the general contractor and Gray Design Group, Inc. the architect on the 6,500-square-foot facility. Frontenac Bank has been operating out of temporary headquarters since February 1999.
The building’s unique design consists of a drive-up window area that incorporates two contrasting brick colors and cut stone headers using the same shade of green as the bank’s logo. “The building was designed to focus on customers and the convenience they want when they come to our bank,” says Kathy Flemming, president of Frontenac Bank.
Paric Corp. begins construction of $18 million Southwest County retirement community
Paric Corp., has begun construction of the new $18.2 million Cape Albeon, a multi-faceted senior living complex in Southwest St. Louis County. A 49-foot-high lighthouse will be the signature architectural feature of the 231,000-square-foot facility, which will cover 16 acres.
Cape Albeon will border a pair of large, man-made lakes, and will provide two independent living formats as well as an assisted-living option. Tenants may choose from 110 one- and two-bedroom independent living apartments or 34 ranch-style cottage homes clustered in eight buildings. Assisted living choices include 70 studio and one-bedroom units. St. Andrew’s Management Services will operate Cape Albeon.
