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Above: G.J. Grewe’s Gravois Bluffs, a $200 million retail power center in St. Louis, will create $2 million in real estate taxes and $5 million in sales taxes annually. Gravois Bluffs is the newest development in a deliberate strategy to drive economic prosperity and growth in St. Louis. Lowe’s, the second largest operator of home improvement stores, and Shop ’n Save, a subsidiary of the largest U.S. food wholesaler, will anchor the development.
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G.J. Grewe’s Gravois Bluffs To Drive Fast Growth In St. Louis County
G.J. Grewe, Inc.’s newest development, Gravois Bluffs, is a nearly 300-acre project representing a $200 million construction investment when fully developed.
Located at the corner of Old Highway 30 and Highway 141 just north of the St. Louis County and Jefferson County line, Gravois Bluffs will introduce a new retail concept to area residents, according to real estate developer Jerry Grewe of G.J. Grewe, Inc.
Traffic studies show more than 100,000 vehicles pass the Gravois Bluffs site daily. The traffic is almost divided equally, 50,000 on Highway 141 and 50,000 on Highway 30. G.J. Grewe, Inc., in coordination with the Missouri Department of Transportation, will incorporate highway infrastructure suitable to meet the needs of Gravois Bluffs and all surrounding areas through 2015.
“This project has been planned since the early 1980s, and we are thrilled to break ground and see the results of many years of hard work by many, many people,” Grewe says.
“We are excited G.J. Grewe, Inc. has brought the Gravois Bluffs development to fruition,” says Fenton Mayor Fran Ruzicka. “We are counting on the project to drive development in our area, which will in turn assist our tax base and our city as a whole.”
G.J. Grewe, Inc., established in 1984, is ranked among the top 300 shopping center developers. G.J. Grewe, Inc. has developed in excess of 1.2 million square feet of retail space comprising 10 shopping centers throughout the St. Louis region.
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Above: The five-story 77 West Port Plaza building, originally constructed in 1980, has undergone a $3 million renovation aimed at the creation of new space for corporate users with a need for the functional efficiency of large floor plates. The building’s transformation into a 144,000-square-foot Class A office building made about 100,000 square feet of office space available for lease. New tenants include Systems Service Enterprises (SSE), Daugherty Systems, Inc., The Ladue Fitness Center and the U.S. Postal Service. Ryder Student Transportation Services and Findett Engineering, Inc. have expanded their offices. Colliers Turley Martin Tucker manages and leases the office, retail and entertainment center located in West St. Louis County.
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Byrne & Jones Renovate University City High School Sports Complex
As part of a $1.2 million renovation of the University City Senior High School’s sports complex, Byrne & Jones Construction has completed a new track and field for the school of about 1,100 students.
As the largest commercial asphalt paving company in St. Louis, Byrne & Jones replaced a six-lane cinder track with a new state-of-the-art rubberized eight-lane 400-meter track that loops the school’s existing football field. The track also includes a rubberized long jump, high jump and pole vault surface.
The contractor made infrastructure improvements as well.
S.M. Wilson Completes $3 Million Quadrangle Renovation at Westminster
Students assigned to on-campus housing in the quadrangle at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., moved into newly renovated buildings thanks to S. M. Wilson & Co., contractor for the $3 million project.
Each of the four two-story buildings was gutted to the structural frame and outside walls, reconfigured and outfitted with all new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, new interior partitions, ceilings and finishes and extensive site work. The renovated buildings now have more bathrooms per floor and larger, though fewer, student rooms.
The biggest challenge for the construction company was the renovation of the 145-year-old campus during summer break.
“We were up to the challenge of the 90-day turn around,” says Scott Wilson, president of the full-service construction management and general contracting firm. “We think we succeeded in updating the students’ living quarters while preserving the historic look and feel of the buildings.”
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Above: The Lawrence Group rehabilitates the historic Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company Building at 21st and Olive Street for commercial insurance agency Welsch, Flatness & Lutz.
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The Lawrence Group Renovates Historic Building for Insurance Agency
With the purchase of the former Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company building at Olive and 21st Street in downtown St. Louis, commercial insurance agency Welsch, Flatness & Lutz, Inc., has retained The Lawrence Group Architects to renovate the building for offices.
Welsch, Flatness & Lutz will occupy about half of the building for its more than 50 employees and lease the other half to office tenants. The company expects to spend $3 million on the renovation with financial support through state and federal Historic Preservation Tax Credit programs.
This is the second historic building that Welsch, Flatness & Lutz has purchased and renovated. The company renovated the building at 1525 South Broadway in 1985, and currently has offices in the Gateway One building on Market Street.
“This part of downtown is coming alive with renovations because a handful of entrepreneurs have been willing to make the investment,” says Dennis Flatness, chairman of Welsch, Flatness & Lutz, a commercial insurance agency specializing in the construction, health care and manufacturing industries.
“The Lawrence Group has been able to drive our redevelopment schedule faster because of its expertise with historic rehabs. The company also has extensive experience working through bureaucratic red tape in Washington and Jefferson City to obtain historic tax credits.”
The eight-story, 50,000-square-foot building was built in the late 1890s as the box manufacturing facility for the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company. A one-story street level space was added in the mid 1950s. Welsch, Flatness & Lutz purchased the building from Wayne and Spann Maintenance, a janitorial firm that occupies the building for office and storage, and leased space to several other tenants. The purchase price was $900,000 and the owners expect to spend another $2 million-plus on renovations. The lender on the project is Allegient Bank. The contractor is Paric Corporation.
“Our client’s goal is to restore and highlight the historical significance of the building while bringing it up to first-class, modern standards in terms of systems and interiors,” says Steve Smith, president of The Lawrence Group. The Lawrence Group Colors will design the interior spaces, which includes the addition of a modern, sophisticated look to the historic flavor of exposed brick and beams in buildings on Laclede’s Landing and the Washington district.
The renovation includes a complete gut rehab, with all interior partitions removed to expose heavy timber columns, beams and brickwork. One of the first steps of the demolition—the removal of masonry and plaster over the street level windows—uncovered ornate cast iron and wooden storefront window frames. The owners will spend an extra $100,000 to install new windows on the second through seventh floor to replicate the original appearance and meet historic tax credit guidelines.
The Lawrence Group is one of the largest and fastest growing architectural and interior design firms in St. Louis with additional locations in New York, North Carolina, Texas and Denver.
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Above: The Missouri Forest Heritage Center designed by Trivers Associates.
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Trivers Associates Completes Design Plans for Missouri Forest Heritage Center
Trivers Associates completed the preliminary site and building design for a 20,683-square-foot Missouri Forest Heritage Museum and Visitors Center. Constructed of native stone and wood, the Center is located on 455 scenic acres in the Missouri Ozark region.
Project plans include a caretaker residence; a historic logging, woodcraft and sawmill demonstration area; picnic pavilions and recreation areas and an outdoor amphitheater. The Missouri Depart-ment of Conservation donated the Twin Pines Site in Shannon County near Winona, Mo.
In an effort to help preserve forest history in Missouri, the non-profit Missouri Forest Heritage Center incorporated in 1990 to educate the estimated 100,000 visitors each year about Missouri’s forest legacy and current resource.
Founded in 1975, the St. Louis-based Trivers Associates has earned a national reputation for project planning, design and project management.
BJC Health System, HealthSouth To Build New Rehab Hospital in City
In partnership with BJC Health System and HealthSouth Corpora-tion, a new 80-bed rehabilitation hospital in the city of St. Louis is under construction. Scheduled for completion in November of 2000, the four-story facility will provide comprehensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services. The hospital also will offer specialized treatment programs for patients with stroke, brain or spinal cord injuries and bone and joint problems or amputations.
The new hospital will have a close affiliation with the department of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine and the University’s programs in physical therapy and occupational therapy.
“We envision that researchers from many different disciplines will be able to collaborate on patient-oriented research and basic cellular research,” says Dennis W. Choi, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chairman of the department of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine. Choi received a $900,000 grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to support pioneering work on cellular transplants for spinal cord injuries.
Washington University’s departments of neurology and neurosurgery were recently ranked seventh in the nation in U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of more than 6,000 hospitals with medical specialties.
Boone’s Crossing Bridge Enhances Chesterfield Valley Development
In an innovative partnership between privately held THF Chesterfield Development and a variety of public organizations, Boone’s Crossing bridge is designed to help alleviate traffic congestion in Chesterfield Valley.
The $13 million overpass, completed in less than a year, connects I-64 and Chesterfield Airport Road at the Chesterfield Bottoms. The interchange allows drivers easy access from I-64 to the east end of the Valley, which previously could be reached only from the Chesterfield Parkway or Airport Road exits. More than 28,000 cars per day are anticipated to use the bridge, which was built in coordination with Missouri Department of Transportation engineers and the St. Louis County’s Department of Highways.
“Because of heavy usage and limited exits, traffic has been a challenge in Chesterfield Valley,” says Stephen Knobbe, Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) district engineer. “Through this special private and public partnership—one of the few of its kind in the state of Missouri—we built an interchange so that vehicles have additional access to the Chesterfield Airport Road and the retail and office buildings planned here in the future.”
The bridge is just one element of an extensive THF Chesterfield Development project created to jump start economic development of the eastern end of Chesterfield Valley, where flooding had destroyed businesses and hopes for any future construction in the area.
The ambitious development includes strengthening of area levees and the construction of a 187-acre retail center.
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