University of Missouri Health Care Opens $190M Expansion Project

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

University of Missouri Health Care has inaugurated its largest expansion ever for University Hospital in Columbia, Mo. The $190 million addition was designed by renowned architecture firm HOK and will feature a new patient care tower and a facility which will replace the oldest cancer center west of the Mississippi River – the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center.

Located on the northeast side of the existing hospital, the eight-story building features numerous technological and sustainable design elements, and it is seeking LEED-Silver certification. Green features include the reuse of stonework from another demolished building on campus, higher efficiency fixtures to reduce water consumption by almost 61 percent, 10,000 square feet of green roofs and a rain screen exterior wall system.

The tower features 90 private rooms with state-of-the-art technology which allows wireless integration of the medical devices with the hospital’s electronic medical record keeping. The 310,500-square-foot addition also includes a 7,000-square-foot inpatient pharmacy with robotics to automatically dispense medication, 25 pre-procedure rooms and 18 post-procedure recovery rooms as well as a 1,800-square-foot lounge for families of surgery patients. The construction manager of the project was Kansas City, Mo.-based JE Dunn Construction Co.

The tower has also integrated the new Ellis Fischel Cancer Center allowing inpatient and outpatient care from a single location. The 100,000-square-foot cancer center spans over two levels and features two linear accelerators and space for a PET-CT scanner, a CT scanner, two magnetic resonance imaging rooms and 66 clinic examination rooms.

HOK also designed a 3,150-square-foot healing garden which offers a seamless connection to interior spaces of the tower, optimizing sunlight.

Photo Courtesy of: www.hok.com

Hayden to Convert Top Floors of Millennium Center to Apartments

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

Downtown St. Louis’ first glass-walled office tower, the Millennium Center, has been acquired by developer Brian Hayden who intends to move the existing tenants to lower floors and renovate the higher floors as apartments, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Located at 515 Olive Street, the newly acquired Millennium Center, originally called the Executive Office Building, was designed by Chicago-based firm A. Epstein & Sons. The Modernist-style tower was the first structure in downtown St. Louis to feature a lightweight glass curtain-wall façade and also the first building to be constructed after the depression. Construction of the building was finalized in 1962.

Brian Hayden purchased the building from New York-based Nassimi Franklin Development Inc., a company that had owned the building since 2008. Currently 36 percent leased, the Millennium center is mainly occupied by a printing company and law firms. The model shop of HOK and a Starbucks are located on the ground floor. Hayden intends to renovate the top 11 floors of the 20-story building, and plans feature 102 one- and two-bedroom apartments.

Hayden is considered an atypical St. Louis developer due to the fact that he doesn’t use historic preservation tax credits, tax abatement or any other form of public incentives for his projects. Although the cost of the Millennium Center project was not disclosed, he divulged to the newspaper that he was utilizing conventional bank financing from Citizens Community Bank in Mascoutah and First National Bank of Dietrich in Red Bud.

Hayden has previously had a similar approach on another downtown building: the former WS Hotel at 400 Washington Avenue. He acquired the vacant building from businessmen brothers Mike and Steve Roberts last year. Built in 1901, the seven-story building was transformed by Hayden into 78 apartments. Renamed Gallery 400, the building is now fully occupied.

Photo Courtesy of: Google Street View.

Owner of $8.2 Million Locust Street Lofts Files for Bankruptcy

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

Locust Street Lofts LP has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The partnership has listed between one and 49 creditors in the filing, with estimated assets and liabilities ranging from $1 million to $10 million. The St. Louis Business Journal reports Locust Street Lofts LP, owner of an apartment building located at 416 23rd Street in downtown St. Louis, is managed by Bill Bruce, founder of Bruce Development Co.

Featuring 96 loft apartments and 4,000 square feet of retail space, the $8.2 million Locust Street Lofts is among a number of historic buildings which have been renovated by Bruce Development, led by Bill and Brian Bruce. The Clayton-based firm has also revitalized the $35 million West End Lofts at 4100 Forest Park Avenue, which features 120 lofts and 20,000 square feet of retail space; and the Soulard Market Loft Apartments situated at 1531 South Eighth Street, a $32 million construction which includes 136 units and 20,000 square feet of retail.

According to the documents filed in the bankruptcy and quoted by the same source, although it has not yet filed a list of its largest unsecured creditors, Locust Street Lofts owes money to Bill Bruce, developer Richard Yackey, AmerenUE and UMB Bank. The revitalization of the Locust Street Lofts and Soulard Market Lofts was a partnership between Bruce Development and local developer Richard Yackey.

Locust Street Lofts LP is represented in the bankruptcy by attorney Vincent Vogler of the St. Louis-based Vogler Law Firm PC.

Photo Courtesy of: www.locuststreetlofts.com

Washington University Gets Approval for $80M Residential, Retail Project

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

Washington University in St. Louis has recently obtained final approval for an $80 million student apartment and retail project in the Delmar Loop in University City and the city of St. Louis.

The 4.4-acre residential and retail development project will include five new buildings, with apartments for about 600 undergraduate students, and approximately 22,000 square feet of new retail space. The new development will be built on university-owned property between Delmar and Enright to the north and between Westgate and Eastgate avenues.

The architect of the project is Boston-based William Rawn Associates, with St. Louis-based Tao + Lee Associates Inc. serving as the local firm. The general contractor of the project is Paric Corp. The construction phase of the project, which will incorporate numerous green features, is expected to take around 14 months. The school aims to achieve at least a LEED gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Among the key green features of the pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly development will be rooftop photovoltaic panels which will provide around 10 percent of the buildings’ electricity; solar thermal panels which are expected to generate 25 percent of the hot water supply; and sensors which will turn down lights in empty spaces. Landscaping will feature rain gardens and close to 5,000 native shrubs, grasses, grounds and ferns.

The project will feature around 250 apartments ranging in size from one- to three-bedroom units. The apartments will be managed by the WUSTL Office of Residential Life.

Image Credits: William Rawn Associates, courtesy of www.wustl.edu

Roberts Tower to Feature 132 Upscale Apartments; St. Louis Zoning Panel Green Lights Apartment Building in Dogtown

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

The St. Louis Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority has nominated STL Tower Partners as the preferred developer for the vacant Roberts Tower in downtown St. Louis. The St. Louis Business Journal reports the naming of the tower’s owner takes the building one step closer to completion.

By reaching a redevelopment agreement with the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, the developer ensures the tower will be eligible for a 10-year tax abatement. The property is located at 411 North 8th Street within a downtown redevelopment area established by the city in 1988.

The construction of the tower was started in 2007 by St. Louis businessmen Mike and Steve Roberts. The brothers had in mind a $70 million project and planned to fill the building with 55 luxury condos, but apart from a restaurant which quickly went out of business, the tower has been empty. The development effort to complete the 25-story tower is now led by Chicago-based UrbanStreet Group. The group plans to spend $22 million and together with Cincinnati-based North American Properties, add 132 upscale apartments to the glass and concrete tower.

In other real estate news, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the St. Louis zoning panel has given the green light to the developers of a planned five-story apartment building in the Dogtown neighborhood. The developers of the $12 million project, David and Brett Apted, have been granted by the Board of Adjustment members the required zoning variance to allow the construction of 63 market-rate apartments on the former site of Forest Park Lumber & Supply Co. The board, however, requested the developers to provide one parking spot for each apartment, and to ensure the building’s first three floors have a brick exterior.

Photo Courtesy of: www.urbanstreetgroup.com