Construction boom energizes Creve Coeur
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
July 2, 2010
by Margaret Gillerman
CREVE COEUR - After 11 years, development is finally happening on the land left vacant by a fire that demolished the Essen Hardware and Lumber store.
The property on Olive Boulevard, near Old Ballas Road, and an adjacent property soon will be the sites of a St. Luke's Urgent Care and Medical Office Building and a CVS pharmacy.
Creve Coeur is experiencing a mini-construction boom, with several other projects under way or on tap in addition to the work on Olive.
The boom is welcome news for the city, taxpayers, developers and other businesses that have had to struggle during the long recession.
"I think we were hit as hard as anybody," said Steve Unser, chief building official for the city. "We went through a very lean time."
Because of the reduction in construction over the last year or two, the city's building department staff was reduced to six from nine, with the three displaced workers reassigned to other city positions.
"I think we probably bottomed out last year," Unser said. "Based on the last few months of construction activity in Creve Coeur, it appears a slow recovery is occurring. We've had a little boom of activity that hopefully will sustain itself."
The Essen store was destroyed in a fire on May 20, 1999. It had done business there since 1925.
Ron Bender of Clayco is project superintendent for the 15,000-square-foot, $1.5 million St. Luke's project. He likes seeing the construction activity along Olive.
"That's a rarity nowadays," he said.
Bender said he believed the construction industry seemed to be "very slowly recovering." He said Clayco was working on several projects, including a $130 million expansion at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in Town and Country.
Construction began on the St. Luke's project about the beginning of May. It will be one story with a two-story atrium.
The Koman Group is the developer. St. Luke's will lease the building from Koman.
Carolyn Gollub, director of medical office development for Koman, is heading development of the St. Luke's site. She expects the building will be completed by fall.
St. Luke's already has urgent-care centers in Kirkwood, Fenton, Chesterfield, Weldon Spring and WingHaven.
The CVS drugstore will be 12,900 square feet and cost an estimated $1.5 million. The developer is Cedarwood Cos. and the contractor is Tri-C Construction Co. Inc., both of Akron, Ohio, said Greg Bradshaw, project superintendent.
Also in the works or on tap in Creve Coeur, with figures provided by the city, are:
- A 14,800-square-foot Walgreens costing about $1.5 million on the north side of Olive at Graeser Road. The facility will replace a current Walgreens at 11015 Olive.
- An $18 million fine arts building at Chaminade High School, 425 South Lindbergh Boulevard. The two-story building will have about 80,000 square feet.
- A 60,000 square-foot athletic building at Missouri Baptist University, costing about $8 million.
- A $80 million, 10-story, 205,000-square-foot patient tower at St. John's Mercy Medical Center, 615 South New Ballas Road. The shell and core are completed and some patient floors have opened.
- A Ronald McDonald House at St. John's. It is three stories, 25,000 square feet and is expected to cost $3.2 million.
Unser noted that most of the work in the area involves schools or hospitals. The private, commercial market is just starting to revive.
"You're not seeing many new office buildings being constructed," Unser said. But he noted more private developments are being discussed.
"There are some in the works but there haven't been submittals yet," he said.
