Reinsurance Group of America Breaks Ground on new 405,000-Square-Foot HQ Complex

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

Reinsurance Group of America Inc. recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new global headquarters in Chesterfield. The new 405,000-square-foot complex will include two five-story office towers, each of equal size. The two buildings will be linked by a two-story atrium lobby.

Located at 16600 Swingley Ridge Road, the headquarters will feature state-of-the-art security systems, a café capable of seating 500 people and a 2,500-square-foot fitness facility. The site was chosen by Reinsurance Group of America with growth in mind, and the new complex will include room for the workforce expansion the company anticipates over the next several years. To support future growth in the long-term the site has enough space for another office building.

“Breaking ground on our new global headquarters is a great way to celebrate RGA’s 40th anniversary. Even with our entire St. Louis workforce in the new building, it will still have room for a significant number of additional associates to satisfy our planned growth,” said Greig Woodring, president and Chief Executive Officer of RGA. “We are very happy to make this commitment to Chesterfield and the St. Louis area,” he said.

St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley said, “I am proud to partner with RGA and help them grow in St. Louis. I see great things ahead for this company. Honestly, one of the best parts of my job is helping tell stories of people doing good work and helping shape our region for generations to come.”

The builder of the project is Clayco, Inc. and the architects are Fox Architects and Gensler. The project is scheduled to be completed in December 2014.

Photo Courtesy of: www.rgare.com

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

Retail Market Livens Up in St. Louis

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

Several retail-related news items made headlines in St. Louis recently.

On the traditional retail side was the sale of the Bellemore Village Center located at 3202 Nameoki Road. According to the St. Louis Business Journal, the 107,000-square-foot Granite City shopping center was sold by Village Shopping Center Inc. for $5 million to local investment group Bellemore Center LLC.   Buyers of the 100 percent leased property were represented by Neland Investment Management. Nelson McBride Development was chosen as property manager, probably not coincidentally as Bellemore Center LLC’s principals include Neland’s Nelson Grumney and Mark Nelson of Nelson McBride.

In other news, online retailer Cat5 Commerce has doubled its base-city presence, reports the St. Louis Business Journal. Cat5 now take up 20,000 square feet at 18167 Edison Ave. in Chesterfield.  The company invested $120,000 in the additional space. But it’s not only surface area that grew for the successful company: Cat5 also increased its employee roster from 22 to 40 in 2012, thus increasing its product base and decreasing shipping time. Furthermore, Cat5 projects a 40 to 50 percent revenue increase in 2012 – which could mean $27 million compared to 2012’s $18 million.

Cat5 has 10 online storefronts.

In other retail news, controversy continues to surround the Shrewsbury Walmart, after news surfaced that the national chain’s proposed Watson Road store would still happen, in spite of a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) commission’s rejection of the development. According to several reports, Mayor Felicity Buckley still expects the project, and more importantly $15 million in TIF, to be approved by the city of Shrewsbury.

According to the Saint Louis Front Page, the 172,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter was first proposed more than two years ago, but was put on hold until December 2012, when a tax incentive package worth up to $15 million was put on the table for developer G.J.Grewe, acting on behalf of the big box giant. Criticism of the project continues to mount as the $46 milllion store, planned on the site of the dilapidated Kenrick Plaza movie theater on Watson Road would be only a 10-minute drive away from not one but two Walmarts, one in Kirkwood and on in Maplewood.

Photo courtesy of  Walmart’s Facebook page

Village Green and L3C Capital Partners Expand Multifamily Partneship in Creve Coeur, Lake St. Louis Markets

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

Village Green and L3C Capital Partners LLC have announced a new multifamily housing partnership in the St. Louis area. New York-based investment company, L3C Capital Partners LLC acquired a portfolio which includes four St. Louis multifamily communities. The four luxury apartment communities located in the Creve Coeur and Lake St. Louis markets–Cross Creek, Cove West, Westchase and Cedar Lakes–will each undergo multi-million dollar renovations.

Village Green Construction and Village Green Interiors, two Village Green companies, will lead the construction and interior design. Village Green’s St. Louis regional office will manage the communities.

In a recent press release, COO of Village Green, Diane Batayeh said: “We are excited to partner with L3C Partners with the addition of these four St. Louis communities to our Missouri portfolio, and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.” She added: “In addition to providing exceptional customer service, we look forward to exceeding ownership’s expectations with respect to the financial performance of these properties.”

The first L3C Capital partners LLC community to undergo interior and exterior renovation will be Cross Creek. The property, which was built in 1986, will be rebranded and renamed Waterfront Crossing at Creve Coeur.

“Village Green brings a history of success with similar type value-added assets. Its results-oriented culture aligns well with L3C’s focus on excellence and execution,” said Chaim Kiffel, principal, L3C Capital Partners.

Norfolk, Va.-based real estate investment firm Harbor Group International said its affiliates are putting $10 million into the purchase of the 1,447-apartment portfolio, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. According to Harbor Group the complexes sold for $115,190,763, and the average occupancy of the apartment portfolio is 95.5 percent.

For more market data on St. Louis, click here.

Photo Courtesy of: www.villagegreen.prospectportal.com

Dominium, U.S. Bank Open Affordable Artists’ Housing Financed by Tax Credits

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

Minneapolis-based Dominium has completed the newly renovated Metropolitan Artist Lofts. The grand opening ceremony for the property was attended by representatives from Dominium, financing partner U.S. Bank and the Grand Center neighborhood.

Located at 500 North Grand Boulevard in the Midtown St. Louis historic district of Grand Center, the Metropolitan building was originally built in 1908 and has stood vacant and unoccupied for many years. The historic building has now been transformed and features live/work artist lofts with upscale architecture and finishes.

Surrounded by museums, art galleries, restaurants and educational centers, the Metropolitan Artist Lofts will provide 72 units which are specifically designed as affordable housing to suit the needs of artists. Apart from the one- and two-bedroom apartments, the building also features studios for painters, sculptors and clay artists as well as sound studios with special soundproofing. The extra-wide hallways are transformed into gallery space, with picture hangers where residents can display their work. Residents will also have access to a dance studio and a fitness room.

“The Metropolitan Artist Lofts is a great use of a historical property that has stood vacant for many years,” said Jeff Huggett, vice president and project partner for Dominium. “We’re pleased to contribute to St. Louis’s vibrant art community and consider this rehabilitation a win both for our expanding Missouri portfolio and the residents of St. Louis.”

Debt and equity, including a construction loan, a first mortgage and close to $14 million federal and state Historic and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity investment, for the $20 million renovation was provided by U.S. Bank through its St. Louis-based subsidiary, U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corp. USBCDC also made a $1.8 million Affordable Housing Assistance Program donation for the benefit of the project.

For more market data on St. Louis, click here.

CORTEX Announces $186M Phase II in Biotech District

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

Phase II of CORTEX, midtown St. Louis’s bioscience and technology hub, will bring 384,000 square feet of additional lab and office space to the technology district. The total facilities space in the technology district will total over 1,000,000 square feet when the phase is complete.

Located at 4320 Forest Park Avenue, CORTEX was founded in 2002 through a $29 million investment from the founding partners Washington University in St. Louis, BJC Healthcare, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Saint Louis University and the Missouri Botanical Garden.

John Dubinsky, chairman of CORTEX, said: “Ten years ago we had a vision to transform an aging 200-acre industrial area into a vibrant, technology district. CORTEX has since become an unquestioned success, positioning St. Louis as an emerging, national center of bioscience, technology, and innovation.”

The $155 million first phase of the development resulted in approximately 950 technology and building management jobs and 124 housing units. Phase II of the development will result in another $186 million of district investment, including a $26 million MODOT I-64 interchange which will become the new gateway entrance into the center of the CORTEX district.

A new partnership with Wexford Science and Technology sees the national research park developer invest over $100 million in CORTEX. As part of the second phase, Wexford Science and Technology will acquire the CORTEX I building for $26 million and in December will purchase the 190,000-square-foot historic Heritage warehouse, located on Duncan and Boyle Avenues. The company will invest $73 million in lab and office renovation and will also contribute $7.35 million towards public infrastructure. Around 400 jobs are expected to be created in the Heritage building.

Phase II will also feature a new 200,000-square-foot, $45 million office building, constructed by BJC Healthcare which will house 1,000 employees.

For more market data on St. Louis, click here.

Rendering Courtesy of: www.cortexstl.com