Lawrence Group has completed the redevelopment of Kirberg Co.’s 44,000-square-foot headquarters and distribution facility in St. Louis. Lawrence Group provided design/build services for the redevelopment of the historic property, which contains office and warehouse space.

The two-story building achieved LEED certification with sustainable features such as bamboo flooring, motion-sensor lighting, maximized natural light, the use of recycled materials, a green roof, increased water efficiency and the installation of a shower for employees to promote alternative transportation.

Source: REBusiness Online

One of the big national AEC stories of 2007 was the number of top design firms acquired by larger companies last year. Sixteen firms “disappeared” from the ENR Top 500 Design Firms list due to acquisitions.

The trend to instantly create companies that can provide a full range of services — from planning and design through construction and even operations and maintenance — has been fueled by larger projects and clients who want single source delivery.

The U.S. dollar’s fall against foreign currencies is another factor that makes acquisition of U.S. firms by foreign companies look more enticing than ever. European companies can get 30% more for their money by using Euros in the U.S.

Still, there’s a lot to be said for the stability, integrity and commitment of firms owned by their founders, management teams or ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans). Among such successful companies in St. Louis are McCarthy, Walton Construction, Guarantee Electrical, Lawrence Group, Clayco, Kwame Building Group, Graybar Electric.

These companies and many others have found ways to provide the broad range of services owners want while still maintaining local ownership.

What other local AEC firms can you add to the list?

Walton Construction St. Louis has been selected as general contractor for the new $6.7 million, 20,000-square-foot Chesterfield Medical Institute. The facility will include an outpatient surgical unit and three medical practices — Laser & Dermatologic Surgery Center, West County Dermatology and Generation Dental Group. Walton also is providing pre-construction, estimating and value engineering on the two-story medical complex. The architect on the project is Feeler-Scheer Architects LLC.

Source: St. Louis Business Journal

Kwame Building Group of St. Louis played a key role as program manager in helping St. Louis Community College achieve LEED Gold certification on its new Wildwood campus. The project received the certification this month.

The $18 million 75,000-square-foot St. Louis Community College Wildwood campus is the largest community college facility in the United States to receive U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification.

“Having KWAME as our full-time, on-site construction manager on a job of this size and complexity insured that the work progressed as it should and that all prerequisites were met to qualify for LEED,” said Carla Chance, vice chancellor of business and administration services at St. Louis Community College.

“Without question, KWAME was a key player in our LEED Gold accomplishment,” she said.

The new campus construction included high-tech classrooms, a science lab, faculty and administrative offices, an art studio, and a bookstore. The rooftop was planted with 4,000-square-feet of sedum, a drought-tolerant plant that reflects heat in the summer and insulates the building from cold in the winter. The facility will be 30 percent more energy efficient than a typical code-compliant building of the same size.

Dave Dwars of the Lawrence Group was quoted in a Midwest Construction cover story on redevelopment of downtown St. Louis this month.

According to the article, 69 buildings have been restored downtown since 1999, totaling $1.3 billion in development.

An example is the Lawrence Group’s $125 million Park Pacific Building. Renovation of the 22-story, 470-sq-ft former Missouri Pacific/Union Pacific building, originally constructed in 1928, will include 108 condos, 50 apartments, 51,000 sq ft of office space and another 10,000 sq ft of space for street-level retail.

Another $1 billion in projects is in the pipeline with 26 buildings being restored or under development.

Other facts:

• 10,000 people live downtown of which 5,000 are new, according to the Downtown St. Louis Partnership.
• About 1,200 additional residents are expected to move in over the next three years.
• 2,700 new housing units opened downtown in the past two years.
• Downtown currently has more than 7,400 rental and sale units.

Walton Construction St. Louis operations manager Tom Kaiman of Chesterfield, Missouri has been chosen as one of 40 young professionals nationwide to receive the Building Design+Construction’s third annual “40 Under 40” award.

The honor is bestowed to young professionals in the design and construction industry. The editors described the winners as the “next generation of leadership.”

Currently, Kaiman supervises a 40-person team working on 11 projects in three states with a total construction value of more than $100 million. Kaiman is responsible for overseeing design, estimating and budgeting, construction operations and startup.

Kaiman’s early background as an AHL professional hockey player gave him special expertise to work on the $18.5 million St. Peters Rec-Plex Renovation and Expansion project in St. Peters, Missouri, which opened in November 2007. He also worked on the $6 million St. Louis Blues Ice Hockey Practice Facility in Hazelwood, Missouri.

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