Riechmann Bros. broke ground on a new John Deere dealership location on February 23rd, alongside Poettker Construction Company, who is serving as the design-build contractor for the 15-acre development in Metro East.
“We pride ourselves on having a team of high-quality technicians and the largest parts inventory for same-day services. This new facility will allow greater accessibility for our customers,” said Bill Riechmann, CEO of Riechmann Bros.
The 34,000-SF facility will be located only a few miles from the original Breese, Ill. location built in 1988, providing ample space to accommodate customers, help accelerate training programs and increase employee retention.
The pre-engineered metal building will feature a canopy to match John Deere’s signature brand colors, showcase brick and stone wainscoting, epoxy floor finish and mezzanines for additional storage. The new facility will feature:
- an inside wash bay, providing a location to wash equipment while escaping the challenges of winter and freezing temperatures;
- a corporate training room to host technician and sales training with John Deere;
- private offices for the management and sales teams, allowing for confidentiality amongst customers; and
- two separate vehicle maintenance areas for agriculture and lawn care equipment.
Multiple energy-efficient elements such as LED lighting and extra insulation to control heating and cooling loses have been incorporated into the design.
“Poettker Construction is excited to work on a project that will contribute to the economic development and investment in the Breese community,” said Keith Poettker, president of Poettker Construction Company.
The anticipated completion date for the new Riechmann Bros. location is late 2021, just in time for their 100th anniversary.
Since joining Koch Development Co. in 2012, Mandy Sybrandy has built a specialized team of managers and staff to operate SkyWheel® Attractions.
SkyWheel® started as a stand-alone iconic attraction in May 2011 with SkyWheel Myrtle Beach. Over the years, it has evolved into a full-service entertainment venue with a ropes course, Snack Shack and an 18-hole miniature golf course in its Panama City Beach, Fla. location.
Clayton, Mo-based Koch Development, who retains an ownership interest of SkyWheel, became the first company to bring an observation wheel of its type to the United States, with locations in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and Panama City Beach.
“Retailers and landlords see tremendous value in such iconic attractions because they attract customers to the location for entertainment and then capture their visit for traditional retail spending, especially as vacations and travel adapt post-COVID,” Sybrandy said.
According to its website, the SkyWheel® is not a carnival ride, but a modern, safe observation wheel towering almost 200 feet in the air with fully-enclosed gondolas offering a safe and secure flight with glass windows and doors for optimal views and photography. The gondolas are heated and cooled, allowing for year-round operation.
Sybrandy, who was recently promoted to vice president of attractions and installed as an officer of Koch Development, said that there are no current attraction opportunities under review in St. Louis.
“SkyWheel® is capitalizing on the power of bringing an experience to locations such as our location at Pier Park in Panama City Beach, Fla., where SkyWheel® enhances the marketability of traditional commercial real estate,” Sybrandy said.
Sybrandy sees great pent-up demand for travel now.
“Staycations and domestic travel within driving distance are accelerating,” Sybrandy said.
As a result, Sybrandy expects the Myrtle Beach and Panama City Beach locations to rebound this year.
Sybrandy graduated from Saint Louis University with a bachelor’s degree in organizational studies and a minor in hospitality management. She is a member of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions and of the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials, which focuses on operations.
Now entering its second century in business, Koch Development is a St. Louis-based, third-generation, family-owned company that develops, owns and manages a diverse portfolio of commercial real estate and entertainment attractions.
The Neighborhood Toolbox, the St. Louis Neighborhood Organization Map, and St. Louis Community LAB can be found at http://investstl.org/neighborhood-toolbox/.
Following the acquisition of HDA Architects by Green Street St. Louis (“Green Street”), the firms plan to combine offices this fall as part of the $20 million Bar K redevelopment at 4565 McRee Avenue in St. Louis, Mo.
The 64,000 SF redevelopment will include Kansas City-based Bar K’s first St. Louis dog park and entertainment facility featuring extensive indoor and outdoor areas for supervised dog play adjacent to bar, restaurant and event space.
Green Street and HDA’s combined offices will occupy approximately 31,000 SF on the first floor and mezzanine level of the building to house approximately 50 employees.
“We can’t wait to bring the Bar K experience to the people and dogs of St. Louis,” said Leib Dodell, the company’s co-founder. “The facility is going to be paradise for dog lovers, and we couldn’t be happier that Green Street and HDA will be part of our new community.”
In addition, Bar K will create a dog adoption and pet education facility in partnership with St. Louis-based Purina-owned pet-adoption site Petfinder.com, as well as Stay@Bar K, a 6,700 SF daycare and grooming facility in collaboration with St. Louis-based Kennelwood.
The development is the first of two phases planned for the McRee area. Green Street is considering its options for the redevelopment of the adjacent six acres at 4591 McRee Avenue.
Bar K is being designed by Arcturis with construction managed by Green Street Construction. HDA is designing the office component with interiors by O’Toole Design and Green Street Building Group managing construction. Civil engineering is being performed by Stock & Associates Consulting Engineers, Inc. with environmental consulting by ATON Environmental.
Emerald Capital Strategic Advisors assisted Green Street in sourcing and closing $18M in New Markets Tax Credit Allocation to support the project. Green Street also utilized other forms of non-traditional capital such as Opportunity Zones Investments to allow the project to move forward.
The dog park, grooming salon and daycare will create nearly 200 jobs and construction on the project will create 150 jobs.
The pandemic hasn’t stopped the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) St. Louis Chapter from providing skill-building resources to area real estate professionals, as several dozen colleagues learned in a February 10 webinar about the process for achieving the Certified Property Manager® (CPM) designation.
The program brings the IREM slogan of “Where will you go in CPM? Anywhere you want” to life and fulfills IREM’s mission to “provide what real estate managers need to succeed and tackle their jobs.”
”The benefit of the CPM is that ‘it’s all-encompassing.’ It teaches to all aspects, not just residential, commercial or industrial. It’s about learning across all aspects,” said Lizzie Ortolano, event host and IREM St. Louis’s senior director of customer and member experience.
The program includes courses in asset analysis, accounting, marketing and leasing, leading a team, maintenance, and finance, with ethics as a core component and principle.
“It’s a 360-degree approach to success,” Ortolano said.
Certification is a four-step process:
• Enroll, which takes about 10 minutes
• Learn, 12 to 18 months
• Test, 3 days to a month
• Graduate
The average cost is $7,500–$8,500, which includes IREM dues; local chapter dues can “vary significantly.” Costs kick in at various points in the process, from $425 to enroll to $210 for graduation, and can be offset for a REALTOR® or affiliate REALTOR®.
Courses are $400–$600 each and scholarships are available for IREM members, one of which covers 75% of the cost for up to three courses; a member can reapply for the scholarship after using it the first time. Someone who fails to graduate can re-register at 50% off the cost and try again.
IREM’s Fast Track approach provides further savings, at a price tag of $950, by waiving seven of the eight courses (the ethics course is required, no matter what) for those with a college degree in property management or real estate, designation from an approved industry organization, or 20 years of qualifying real estate management experience. Fast Track participants still have access to all course materials.
The process is flexible, Ortolano said, with no time limit on how long it takes to earn the CPM designation, although there are deadlines once registered for an exam — or capstone — date. She suggested setting exam dates when registering for the program overall. The eight certification courses should be taken in a recommended order, with the ethics segment usually the first step. Although usually a classroom, in-person offering, an online version of the ethics section is available through December 31, 2021, because of the pandemic.
The handbook, which provides a “deeper dive” on course content, can be downloaded from the IREM website and goes beyond study material. “It includes information you can use to convince management of the value of certification,” Ortolano said.
Real estate management professionals who have taken courses or other certification programs don’t have to retake them; “credit doesn’t expire even if you took a course and didn’t complete certification, and can go back several years,” she said.
There are three current modalities for the coursework: virtual classroom via Zoom, led by an instructor; in-person classroom session with an instructor; and online, self-paced. Each course ends with a 50-question open-book exam.
Requirements to maintain CPM candidacy include being current with IREM dues, documenting 36 months of real estate management experience and attending at least two chapter meetings (although that can be waived in the current pandemic era). For commercial real estate professionals, qualifying experience includes a minimum portfolio size of 120,000 SF at one site or 80,000 SF at two or more sites, and serving in at least 19 of IREM’s 36 key management functions.
A real estate license or REALTOR® or affiliate REALTOR® status might be required to complete the CPM process. Because IREM is part of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), NAR membership is also a requirement.
Recent innovations in response to COVID-19 issues, Ortolano said, include a digital badge that is unique to each individual who graduates and holds the date CPM status is achieved, what the individual did to earn the designation and more.
“Many chapters are doing creative virtual installation celebrations for their new CPMs until it is considered safe to hold such events in person again,” Ortolano said.
For more information, go to www.iremstl.com.
Soulard Commerce Center, a Class A warehouse building located in the 35-acre Soulard Business Park, is complete and available for leasing, according to JLL.
Developed by The Opus Group, the 154,937-SF spec warehouse is the first modern industrial building in the area since 2004. The building can accommodate final-mile destination warehouse and delivery, light manufacturing or general office/warehouse uses.
“This area of the city, and for that matter points further south in the city and county, are the most supply constrained in our market when it comes to modern industrial building product. It is a swath of the market with significant barriers to developing at scale, and The Opus Group has achieved that in Soulard Commerce Center. In the process, they’ve created a unique alternative for industrial occupiers who previously had to consider locations further away from their customer and employee bases,” said Pat Reilly, executive vice president of industrial leasing for JLL.
Soulard Commerce Center is designed for multiple tenants with individual build-to-suit spaces starting at about 22,000 SF. It features 32-foot, clear-height ceilings and 24 trailer parking stalls to suit a variety of uses, including e-commerce and urban logistics.
With easy access to Interstates 44, 55, 70 and 64, the building location can meet the distribution needs of modern final-mile networks, which have become more important with the explosive growth of e-commerce.
“The recent boom in e-commerce has created an increased demand for modern industrial space,” said Ryan Carlie, director of real estate development at Opus. “Soulard Commerce Center provides tenants a diverse space that can accommodate a variety of needs within a convenient and desirable location.”
The building benefits from 25-year real estate tax abatement. Base rent for the building is $6.50 per square foot.
Aaron Retherford, vice president of business strategy for Kadean Construction, has been named to the 40 Under 40 Class of 2020 by Building Design + Construction, a major national publication serving the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries.
Retherford is recognized for his career achievements, passion for the AEC profession, involvement with industry organizations and service to his community. He joined Kadean and its executive team in September 2020 and has 13 years of construction industry experience.
“Aaron has established himself as a proven young leader in our industry, and he richly deserves this national honor,” said Mike Eveler, president of Kadean Construction. “In his short time with us, he has already made a big impact in executing our growth and business development strategic plan and building our brand locally, regionally and nationally.”
Building Design + Construction cited Retherford’s success in growing annual revenues, developing a turn-key civil design-build service for site development work and establishing a permanent Omaha office for his previous employer, among many accomplishments. They also noted his role as a board member and treasurer for the Greater St. Louis Honor Flight organization, as well as committee memberships with KIDstruction and the St. Louis Council of Construction Consumers.
Retherford is Kadean’s executive leader for growth and business development across all offices and future expansion efforts. He focuses on building relationships and developing plans to execute strategic growth initiatives, which include expanding work with current clients and pursuing national clients in new markets. Retherford also helps market and execute Kadean’s Design-Build and VDC (Virtual Design & Construction) capabilities.
Retherford is 37 years old, an avid golfer and holds a B.S. in Construction Management from Illinois State University.
Holland Construction Services has begun work on the new Mill Creek Flats Luxury Apartments in historic Midtown St. Louis.
The $25 million project is the third and final phase of the Steelcote Square development by Pier Property Group.
The six-story apartment building will include 105 apartments, a two-story structured parking garage, 10,000 SF of retail space and amenities such as a fitness center, pet spa, rooftop pool and green space. The project was designed by the architectural firm, Trivers.
According to Holland project manager, Clayton Herring, the structure will include 5 floors of wood-framing on top of a concrete podium which includes the garage and retail space. The building will also feature an exterior façade of corrugated metal, which will give the structure a distinct appearance that varies throughout the day.
“The development is unique for a lot of reasons but primarily because of the smart utilization of space in an urban area. We’re also constructing a brand new building which will sit adjacent to two historic ones and will tie the entire development together. We are very happy to be part of the collaborative effort between the developer, the architect and our team to ensure that this building will have some very exceptional features for its residents and commercial tenants while also being cost-effective,” Herring said.
This is the second multifamily project for the Pier Property Group - Holland Construction duo, who are also building the Flats at Dorsett Ridge. The new $45 million, 218-unit luxury apartment complex in Maryland Heights is expected to be complete later this year.
“Holland has unparalleled experience and expertise when it comes to multi-family and wood-frame structures, especially within the St. Louis area. Not only are they experts from a construction standpoint, they also have worked with the City of St. Louis and are very familiar with the codes and regulations,” said Michael Hamburg, owner of Pier Property Group.
The Mill Creek Flats Development is expected to be complete by Spring 2022. For more information about the project, you may visit www.millcreekflats-stl.com/.
Construction is complete on a project to renovate two underutilized auditoriums and vacant space at Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) in St. Louis into a Training and Testing Center that will support the medical school's new mission and active learning curriculum.
Cori Auditorium and Erlanger Auditorium, which were both underutilized due to their age and outdated design for current teaching methods, are located on the first floor of the school's McDonald Science Building, designed in 1960. Named for the distinguished Nobel Prize-winning WUSM faculty Joseph Erlanger and Carl and Gerty Cori, the auditoriums still functioned as lecture halls before the renovations.
In addition to the two auditoriums' reconfiguration, KWK Architects designed a testing center for medical education in the building's vacant space after relocating the admissions office to the North Building on campus and the student services location to Becker Library. The ground-floor access and central location made it a prime location for the medical school's new Training and Testing Center.
"The university's teaching pedagogy has shifted from a stand-and-deliver approach of the past to a more collaborative, interactive teaching method, as evident in the design renovations for the vacant space and two auditoriums," said KWK Architects principal Eric Neuner.
KWK designed the vacant space into an 85-seat testing room for medical students, which could also be used as seminar and lecture space for all departments. KWK acoustically engineered the area to eliminate sounds from the corridor and adjacent auditoriums. The interior was passively reinforced with built-in reflectors and diffusive shapes to help strengthen speech. The space also provides multiple video screens for lecture functions and splitting the room up into workgroups as needed.
To create fully accessible and flexible active learning classrooms in the auditoriums, infilling the existing slopes and reconfiguring the room shapes was required. Structurally engineered, cold-formed framing supports were installed with a lightweight concrete topping to provide the floor infill. The interstitial space was lined with insulation to help reduce sound transmission during construction and final use.
"This had to be done carefully since the basement below the spaces housed existing laboratories which were operational throughout the construction process," said KWK project manager Bob Buckman.
Cori Auditorium, the larger of the two auditoriums, takes advantage of existing windows to connect the occupants to the exterior. Two new windows were installed in Erlanger Auditorium to give the interior a connection to the outdoor courtyard.
"What was once a dark, antiquated auditorium is now an open, well-lit space both naturally and artificially. The renovated spaces are now ready to serve the medical school for the next 50 years," said Neuner.
Tables and chairs on casters were specified for each new classroom (138 seats in Cori and 105 seats in Erlanger) to provide flexibility in configuration. Motorized shades and dimmable lighting were also selected for multi-use functionality in each space. The Medical School's logo was added as a wall graphic to each classroom to reinforce its branding.
AVI Systems of St. Louis provided the design for the center's new AV systems, which include a 3 ft x 3 ft video wall interconnected to 96-inch screens placed throughout each classroom. The education component is supported by active sound reinforcement and built-in cameras for online learning.
"Screens were placed in careful planning with the furniture to ensure good sightlines with writable wall surfaces. Each smaller breakout area can share their screens with the video wall for interactive learning," said Buckman.
The project team also included SSC Engineering, Bell Electrical, C&R Mechanical, Dynamic Controls and Engineered Fire Protection. The general contractor on the project was BSI Constructors and Interface Construction.
In 2015, Washington University School of Medicine hired KWK Architects to develop a phase one-campus plan https://outlook.wustl.edu/building-connections/.
Since the master plan's completion in 2015, KWK has worked on over 40 design and study projects on the School of Medicine Campus. These include projects outlined in the master plan and additional enabling projects that have helped support campus growth and recruitment activities.
“The projects just completed by KWK were the final phase of the 2015 Phase One Education Renovation Plan. We are excited to see the full plan come to fruition and are eager for the campus to use and experience these exciting spaces,” said Melissa Rockwell Hopkins, assistant vice chancellor of operations facilities with the School of Medicine.
For more information about KWK Architects' university master planning expertise, visit www.kwkarchitects.com/markets/details/master-planning.
Building on continued momentum in St. Louis’ Central City, a groundbreaking new housing project will bring attainable housing through over 160 new units - over 80 of which will be workforce-targeted rents - to the Central City’s Forest Park Southeast neighborhood.
Union At The Grove, a $40 million multifamily development, is comprised of six individual buildings on Hunt, Vista and Norfolk Avenues, between Newstead and Taylor Avenues, just east of Kingshighway.
Green Street St. Louis developed the project with support from a consortium that includes Greater St. Louis, Inc., IFF, and Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corp. (WUMCRC), a partnership between BJC Healthcare and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
“As we focus on inclusive economic growth for our region, the project sends a strong signal about what is being done to begin a resurgence in the Central City in St. Louis,” said Valerie E. Patton, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for Greater St. Louis, Inc. and president of the Greater St. Louis Foundation.
In addition to Union, recent developments highlighting the resurgence in the Central City include the first fully protected bike and pedestrian infrastructure in the city that will connect the Tower Grove Park and the Shaw neighborhood to Forest Park Southeast and Cortex; continued significant development taking place in and around Cortex itself; the construction of the new NGA West headquarters, projected to open in 2025; and additional hundreds of millions of dollars of new and adaptive re-use real estate development underway in the City. As has been reported in recent years, more than $8 billion in development is underway, planned or has been recently completed in the City.
“Union At The Grove is a natural extension of Green Street’s continued commitment to the City of St. Louis and Midtown redevelopment through partnership and community revitalization,” said Joel Oliver, Green Street senior vice president for development.
Developing new workforce housing is critical to inclusive growth, and approximately 52 percent of the Union’s units will have attainable rents so that health care employees and medical school staff can live near where they work. The units with attainable rates will be blended throughout each of Union’s six unique buildings.
Amenities include private entrances, courtyards and walking paths; shared rooftop terraces, balconies, and barbecue areas; and bike storage, mail, and secure package areas. The properties are walking distance from Forest Park, Tower Grove Park, Cortex and the Washington University Medical Campus.
“Social, environmental and economic inequities are recognized as major contributors to health disparities,” says Richard Liekweg, BJC HealthCare president and CEO.
“This project demonstrates that health care organizations can play a part in strengthening our neighborhoods and communities. Having new, attractive and attainable housing adjacent to our academic campus where some 20,000 employees work will facilitate access to jobs, while also strengthening communities,” Liekweg said.
Beginning in 1996, WUMCRC has purchased properties in the neighborhood with the long-term goal of attracting developers with strong records in redeveloping and supporting mixed-income, diverse communities. Union At The Grove is the final segment of this effort to improve the quality of life for residents in neighborhoods that border the Medical Campus. WUMCRC also has supported neighborhood investments in safety, jobs, education and the development of The Grove, the entertainment and commercial district along Manchester Road.
“In recent years the market has done a great job supplying high quality market rate and we have been able to find resources to build and maintain low-income housing units in the neighborhood. This project fills in the missing middle – those who earn too much to qualify for subsidized housing and too little to afford market housing,” said Hank Webber, Washington University’s executive vice chancellor and chair of the WUMCRC board.
Construction is slated to start February 1, 2020 with an official groundbreaking ceremony targeted for spring of this year. The project did not make use of federal or state tax credits or incentives and is applying all funds from the 10-year tax abatement it received into the newly formed Newstead West Community Improvement District for the purpose of making infrastructure improvements that would otherwise not be completed. These improvements include:
Resurfacing of streets and alleys
Rebuilding sidewalks and curbs
Installing new streetlights
Helping heal the City’s grid by reopening the cul-de-sacs on Vista and Norfolk at Taylor
“This development checks a couple of important boxes for our community. It adds density to support our efforts for more environmentally sustainable development and less car dependency. It also has a workforce housing component to assure our neighborhoods remain economically diverse. Both are core values of the 17th Ward,” said 17th Ward Alderman Joe Roddy.
Development of Union is being led by Green Street, which has advanced approximately $100 million worth of other projects in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood. Green Street Building Group is managing project construction with said construction financing provided by Colliers International, arranged by Kyle Howerton of George Smith Partners.
IFF provided Newstead West Community Improvement District a bridge loan to provide upfront funding for infrastructure improvements that would have otherwise been available spread out over a decade.
CentralCitySTL is an initiative of the newly formed economic development organization Greater St. Louis, Inc. that combines the work of Arch to Park and Design Downtown STL. The Arch to Park Equity Fund made a patient capital investment to help make this major development possible.
Booming interest in industrial space continues to fill St. Louis industrial parks and warehouses, according to commercial real estate firm JLL.
With a flurry of new leases signed in the last quarter, the brokerage firm says last year’s figures have met the record of 4.1 million square feet of absorption previously set in 2019. According to JLL’s 2021 Midwest Industrial Outlook, the Midwest markets are seeing unprecedented growth and will need 275 million square feet of new warehouse space in the next five years to accommodate surging demand.
“Had you asked in March what the outlook for industrial real estate would be for 2020, the answer would not have been where we are today,” said David Branding, managing director for JLL’s St. Louis industrial markets team.
“The activity, especially in last quarter, helped achieve another record year of absorption. We fully expect to see the same momentum and even an increase in demand going into this year and likely well beyond,” Branding said.
JLL’s report indicates that St. Louis experienced a 79 percent increase in bulk inventory since 2016 after having virtually no new construction from 2009 to 2015. In 2020, e-commerce accounted for more than 40 percent of the leasing activity. The majority of new warehouse construction continues to be in North County, St. Charles and the Metro East.
Last quarter, JLL represented tenants and developers in more than 670,000 square feet in new lease agreements. Altus Properties signed a 135,400-square-foot lease at its Corporate 44 Business Park in Fenton, Mo. Building 4 at the park is now fully leased with the expansion of current park tenant Re-Sort Solutions, a specialty packaging and warehouse company.
Cambridge Engineering, a Chesterfield Valley company, signed a lease for 68,605 SF within the Wentzville Distribution Center, owned by SparrowHawk Development. This lease brings occupancy in the building to 100%.
Agile Packaging Solutions, a specialty packaging company serving customers in St. Louis, leased 241,448 SF at Park 370 Center 1 in Hazelwood, Mo., bringing the building to 100% occupancy.
JLL also represented St. Louis Business Center on two recent lease agreements within the center, located in the North City submarket. Werner Enterprises and American Trailer Rental Group have both leased trailer yards within the park. The leases are part of a larger trend of facilities catering to increased commercial truck and trailer traffic related to e-commerce, both in and around the St. Louis market and on cross-country routes. This is American Trailer’s first St. Louis location.
Top tenant expansions in the St. Louis market include Amazon, World Wide Technology, Geodis, Reckitt Benckiser and Save A Lot. The companies signed 18 new leases totaling more than 8.7 million SF. The area’s top developers, including NorthPoint, TriStar, Pannattoni, Duke Realty and CRG, brought more the 15 million SF of new warehouse space to market in 2020.
“With an expected $900 billion increase in e-commerce sales expected in the next five years, St. Louis is poised to gain significant investment and growth among major institutional players, some who have already begun recognizing the market, and others who undoubtedly are now starting to take notice,” said Branding.
Featured in photo from left to right: Scott Drachnik, president and CEO of St. Charles County Economic Development Council; Jim Curran, executive vice president of Electrical Connection; Kevin Bresnahan, project manager at RJP Electric; Scott Nesbitt, IBEW Local I; and Randy Bowers, operations manager at RJP Electric.
