New construction starts nationwide advanced 8% in June over the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $662.4 billion, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. Nonresidential building showed an especially strong performance, surging up 29% over May, while residential building improved a moderate 4%, mostly due to a strong 40% increase in multifamily housing.

Excluding residential building from the year-to-date statistics, new construction starts in the first six months of 2007 were up 2% over 2006.

Source: McGraw-Hill Construction

The University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL) has purchased a $2.7 million, 56,000-square-foot laboratory facility and will renovate it for use as a new tech incubator and supercomputing center.

The building, across the highway from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, had been renovated for use as a lab by Incyte Genomics, a Wilmington, Delaware-based pharmaceutical company. The facility comes equipped with a 3,000-square-foot central computing chamber and peripheral office/lab spaces. These niche improvements were attractive to UMSL for their IT Enterprises, a new business incubator set to open at the end of 2007.

UMSL plans to invest several million dollars in IT Enterprises, which will house a supercomputer and up to 12 startup companies. UMSL hopes the supercomputer will attract researchers and financial grants, which in turn will vitalize the business incubator. The building would have required significant interior renovation had it been sold to a traditional office user.

Source: Midwest Real Estate News

The retail sector is lagging behind the pack in green building, according to The U.S. Green Building Council. They report that LEED project certifications for green buildings overall were up 67% from 2005 to 2006. But of the more than 800 LEED certified projects to-date, only 50 retail projects have been certified.

The key issue is real cost vs. spec benefits. Developers would pay more for green features and may not be able to recoup those costs in higher rents or faster lease-up. Still, the number of large retailers announcing green building initiatives has accelerated in 2007 and should peak in 2008-2009.
For more on the factors driving the green retail market, see Greening the Retail Sector in Building Design + Construction.

Building Design + Construction

The St. Louis County Port Authority has completed a land purchase that will pave the way for construction to begin on the $375 million Pinnacle Entertainment casino and hotel project. The project is expected to create 1,000 construction jobs.

The County purchased 39 acres in south St. Louis County that Pinnacle will use to build a four-lane access road to its planned River City Casino and Hotel. Pinnacle plans to open the development in 2008.

The County bought the land for $3 million in early July, according to sources. The property, the former site of the Air Force National Imagery and Mapping Agency, was heavily damaged by the 1993 flood. Environmental remediation is expected to begin immediately.

Source: St. Louis Business Journal, MSN Money.com

Holland Construction Services is building a new $26 million junior high school for O’Fallon School District #90. The 145,000-square-foot school will be on 42 acres along Seven Hills Road and will feature a gymnasium, 40 teaching areas, a library/media center and a “cafetorium,” which combines a cafeteria  and performance stage. The campus will have a courtyard, baseball and softball fields, and a soccer field with a running track. FGM Architects Planners is providing architectural services for the project.

Developer Dmyterko & Wright Partners has broken ground on a $50 million entertainment and retail complex on 18 acres in Hazelwood, Missouri, as reported in GlobeSt.com. The Crescent Pointe at the Mills property at Highway 370 and St. Louis Mills Boulevard is next to St. Louis Mills Mall and a new 130,000-sf Cabela’s. The project includes a Splash Universe Hotel and Water Park with 130 rooms, and 80,000 sf of retail space and is is expected to be complete by fall 2008.

Bob Cissell of Cissell Mueller Co. LLC is leasing the retail space and says the owner hopes to lease to one bank, a convenience store and junior anchors such as ladies clothing, furniture stores and restaurants.

“It’s more geared toward families,” Cissell said. “The water park will be bringing in families from 200 miles away.”

He said the retail portion will be build-to-suit and pad-ready. Retail lease rates for the St. Louis area are at about $11.66 per sf, according to a first quarter Grubb & Ellis market report. St. Louis Mills, a regional mall, has more than 175 stores, and is owned by Simon Property Group.