urbanSTL

Those under-utilized lots on the East side of Hanley look ripe for the picking.

Wabash wrote:Here's a link to the Centene HQ project's construction webcam:





Clayco/Centene Webcam

user name and password.... Really?

There must have been something wrong. I just looked at it with no problem.

bummer, I get this:

Please enter your username and password below to log into your OxBlue Pro Account.



Username:

Example: account@your_company.com



Password:

Remember my Password





forgot your password?

EDIT: Ok it works fine on my pc, but I can't view on my mac.

On your Mac, try using Firefox for that site. Safari gives me the same problem.

^thanks



Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - 10:18 AM CST

Centene closer to building Clayton HQ

St. Louis Business Journal





As other projects fall apart in the recession, Centene got one step closer Tuesday night to building its new $215 million headquarters.



Clayton’s board of aldermen approved the consolidation of land parcels for the proposed Centene Plaza, said city clerk June Waters.



The next step comes Dec. 23, when the aldermen consider the architectural design of the project’s garage on Forsyth Boulevard.



The first phase of Centene Plaza includes plans for a 24-story, 585,000-square-foot office tower with ground-floor retail space. About 200,000 square feet of space in the building will be available for lease by other tenants. St. Louis-based Clayco and Chicago-based U.S. Equities Realty are the co-developers on Centene's new headquarters.





read more here



http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... l?ana=e_du

Centene HQ construction has been active and busy over Christmas week. Two large machines on the cleared site are working daily. It appears they are drilling/digging to set pier foundations. Other materials and equipment have been delivered to site.

Is this where we start talking about cassions?

I'm no fan of Centene, or even downtown Clayton for that matter, but at least Harris Armstrong's Vandervoort's building didn't die in vain. Given the current economy and Centene's on-again, off-again plans, I was afraid there would be a vacant lot there for years to come.

It appears as though the new Centene building has now been downsized to about 17 stories, probably due to the economy......kind of makes you wonder how the empire state building was built during the Great Depression.

ginbudjim wrote:Centene HQ construction has been active and busy over Christmas week. Two large machines on the cleared site are working daily. It appears they are drilling/digging to set pier foundations. Other materials and equipment have been delivered to site.

How is this being paid for? This is no financing in place, at least nothing has been publicized. It very much surprises me that they would take on anything more than site prep with without securing financing.

It appears as though the new Centene building has now been downsized to about 17 stories, probably due to the economy......kind of makes you wonder how the empire state building was built during the Great Depression.

Interesting news. Where did you get your info regarding the scale back?

appraisalman wrote:It appears as though the new Centene building has now been downsized to about 17 stories, probably due to the economy......kind of makes you wonder how the empire state building was built during the Great Depression.

I haven't looked it up, so forgive me if I'm mistaken, but if memory serves the builders of the Empire State Building were deeply in debt by the time of it's completion. After the building was finished most of the spaces were empty and the owner actually turned the lights on in the building to give the illusion of occupancy and spur interest to potential tenants.

If I'm not mistaken I do believe I read recently that Centene was financing this project themselves. (any company in Healthcare or medical seems to be the only ones with money these days !).

Anyway, I'm looking out my office window now and see more workman and equipment busily "constructing" away on the site.

ginbudjim wrote:
Anyway, I'm looking out my office window now and see more workman and equipment busily "constructing" away on the site.

Look like this Gin?

17 floors, what a shame. And the sub-300 foot building curse on St. Louis continues yet again..

2taall wrote:17 floors, what a shame. And the sub-300 foot building curse on St. Louis continues yet again..

Since it's in Clayton, I really can't bring myself to care all that much.



I'm okay with Clayton, but like many people here, I'd much rather see more mid- and highrise development in downtown St. Louis instead.

2taall wrote:17 floors.

don't jump the gun...

Exactly Moorlander, looks just like this to me . . . except 180 degrees opposite view.

It puzzles me why some want these buildings to be a gazillion stories tall ?? Does Clayton or St.Louis or any municipality in the area have the equipment to extinquish a blaze above 30 stories ?? That concerns me.

umm. does the city have the equipment to blaze above 43 stories? obviously both Clayton and downtown are capable of fighting fires in towers.

JCity are you're saying that firefighting equipment and trained personnel is available in STL to handle a 43+ story fire ?? I would hate to see another MGM Grand fiasco like Las Vegas had 20-30 years ago.

^I'm not a firefighter, but I would assume that the districts servicing both downtown St. Louis and downtown Clayton would be trained differently than those of shrewsbury. While pretty much all of these firefighters would have zero experience with a situation such as the one you mention, I'm sure they would have contingency plans. Anything less would be stupid. I doubt the firefighters in Houston are going to do any better than the STLFD. I feel your point is fairly irrelevant outside of Chicago and New York.

If we don't have firefighters prepared for anything above 43 floors, there are going to be a lot of dead people in downtown St. Louis. After 100'-125', there is no ladder truck tall enough to fight from the exterior. It's all walking up a lot of stairs. May take longer, but there are no differences besides the walk and evacuation time in 150' and 500'. Hopefully any building that tall is well sprinkled as well.

Let's not build anything big. Let's stay as little as our St. Louis minds.



You guys win.

^what's so cool about 300ft... just asking