Well may I please go on record with a big boo-freaking-hoo.DogtownBnR wrote: ↑Aug 19, 2022Wow, the view from Charlotte is not so good this morning. While most in NC are in shock, the unpredictability of the post-covid office market makes this more understandable.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/ ... 64104.html
- 1,794
- 3,757
I would guess a good percentage of grads will go where the best job is. I’ve known many in the medical field who’ve stayed after graduation. We need to add and maintain our corporate base and the talent will come.
- 9,539
Centene has vacated nearly its entire real estate footprint here — approximately 1 million square feet of office space — according to marketing materials shopping those properties for lease or sublease:
roughly 300,000 square feet in Chesterfield
180,000 square feet in Des Peres
100,000 square feet in Richmond Heights
100,000 square feet in Creve Coeur
more than 60,000 square feet in St. Louis city
roughly 300,000 square feet in Chesterfield
180,000 square feet in Des Peres
100,000 square feet in Richmond Heights
100,000 square feet in Creve Coeur
more than 60,000 square feet in St. Louis city
StlToday - Centene’s cuts pleased investors, but may be ‘disastrous’ for St. Louis’ office market
https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... 7dc2e.html
https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... 7dc2e.html
Unfortunately I doubt most of that space is viable for residential conversion.
- 2,928
STL Biz Journal: In St. Louis, Centene dropping East Coast headquarters will ‘put a lot of worries to rest’
Quick thoughts on all this...Even considering the pandemic's rise in remote work that may not tie workers to a region, Centene's construction of an alternative campus was an ongoing threat to the company’s continued presence in St. Louis, said Joe Roberts, a business professor and director of the Center for Innovation and management and leadership programs at Webster University.
“The lack of a ready-to-move-in facility somewhere else is definitely good news for St. Louis because otherwise, there would be more incentive for the company to pick up and go,” Roberts said.
In a statement Friday, Centene, said the public company is “deeply committed” to St. Louis and that it continues to employ more than 7,800 people in Missouri. It continues to attribute its Charlotte decision to a preference by its employees for remote work. The company is now led by CEO Sarah London, who took over the company in March, weeks before Neidorff died in April after a lengthy illness.
“Centene remains deeply committed to the city of St. Louis, which we have been proud to call our home since 1997, and the long-standing relationship we have formed with the community,” the company said. “Since announcing our plans to establish an East Coast headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, there has been a fundamental shift in the way people want to work.”
- New leadership is not looking to move the company. I remember an anecdote from over a year ago a friend told me, about cocktail hour conversations with an executive of the company, indicating that HQ relocation was not at play at the time.
- The death of Michael Neidorff (RIP) and the change of the guard was significant here, in that I don't think new leadership would have pursued the creation of an East Coast HQ where he thought it important enough to attempt.
- The lingering effects of Covid-19 are still greatly impacting the needs for professional office space. This may be the "canary in the coal mine" for a lot of East Coast cities, and others, as they all seek increased office space occupancy in their urban cores (i.e. Manhattan office space is only about 40% occupied). Meanwhile, it sucks for Charlotte in two ways: they won't be getting these new jobs, and they will soon have a major office site to fill, one ostensibly designed for a single tenant.
- Props to Greater STL, etc. for working with Centene to keep their HQ here throughout this time.
- Regarding the Hartman idea of the company being acquired: I don't think so. I don't see any of their chief competitors being robust enough to make an attempt without taking on a crapload of high interest debt, which they'd need to do as a cash or equity buyout would be too expensive, all while inflation and a nominal recession are taking place. Yes, the company has a low Price/Book ratio, a metric I consider when reviewing M&A targets, but a company this big, in this industry, would be a hard target for acquisition in any economy.
- Centene keeps increasing its client list, which is nice.
- Feeling a whole lot of relief, as in this issue is finally being put to bed. Knock wood.
- 1,794
What a company. Derives all of its income from tax payers, rips off every state Medicaid agency on drug pricing, backs out of all of its commitments (Clayton, NC, office space generally, and now the stadium naming deal), takes dumps on the city that provided it the platform to grow into a F50 corporation.
At #42 on the Fortune 500 who would buy them?dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑Oct 26, 2022They’re positioning to sell themselves
- 134
- 2,928
What a company...
STL Biz Journal: Centene unloads huge chunk of St. Louis office space, report says
STL Biz Journal: Centene unloads huge chunk of St. Louis office space, report says
It's one thing for a company to put itself out there as a buy-out target, but a whole other to throw a fire sale on oneself.Real estate firm JLL said Centene, the Clayton health care giant and St. Louis' largest public company, in the third quarter gave back upwards of 750,000 square feet across multiple buildings as it shifts to a work-from-home model.
The report didn't identify all the affected buildings, and JLL said it could not "discuss Centene's efforts." Centene didn't respond to requests for comment.
But JLL said one of the newer buildings Centene "will vacate," its 27-story tower at 7676 Forsyth Blvd., "has leases pending with several tenants."
"As a result, Centene Plaza C is expected to be backfilled by early next year," the report said.
When Centene sells the Ritz Carlton I don't want anyone to be shocked.
My first thought also.
- 6,118
There's a certain part of me that thinks it's also the new sheriff marking her territory. She seems to be pushing the company in a much more typical direction; downsize, spin off, go fast, be lean, make business speak . . . Seems like this is always the sort of thing that happens when the founders, who had their ego tied up in the company, let go. We shall see. I rather thought they'd already sold the Ritz. Guess I was wrong about that. That said . . . they are using it. They may have gone work from home and sell the office, but they seem to have gone back to business travel. They have so many branches in so many places, and they're smack in the middle of a huge reorganization, so I guess they want everyone to meet everyone else at least once. Everybody seems to be parading through town.
Centene has vacated and put up for lease their entire Sacramento campus:
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... ampus.html
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... ampus.html
^ Be glad we kept the HQ...and that London seems to be committed to St. Louis based on her recent BJ interviews.
But this is a WFH company now. It seems they've pretty much vacated every building/campus outside of Centene Plaza B at this point.
But this is a WFH company now. It seems they've pretty much vacated every building/campus outside of Centene Plaza B at this point.
- 6,118
^I suspect there'd be a revolt. Everyone is work from home anyway, and there are so many subsidiaries and they do work in so many places there's good reason for them to have offices in a lot of places. My wife has been going in to the office a bit more lately. Maybe they'll have a reason to take back some of their office space, but they've offloaded quite a lot and London seems to like it that way. Happy to see them grow, but I doubt I'll ever get them back out of their Carondelet office. (And I'm not sure I'd want to. I'm kind of sweet on the one employee here. Kind of nice to offer to fetch her coffee on my own horrible commute. Or get random invitations to lunch.)
Should this thread be renamed Centene and moved to the business section? I think we can safely assume Centene won’t be building anything new in the future.
Centene to sell British hospital operator for $1.2 billion
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/bus ... the-latest
Centene to sell British hospital operator for $1.2 billion
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/bus ... the-latest
Centene Stock Plummets as Healthcare Firm Pulls 2025 Outlook
https://www.investopedia.com/centene-st ... k-11765182
![]()
https://www.investopedia.com/centene-st ... k-11765182
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/CNC_2025-07-02_09-49-28-ee5363126c2e49c29e98efb6369202ad.png)
...patient illness was "significantly higher than, and materially inconsistent with” its prior assumptions.
Centene announced that it was refiling its 2026 rates "to reflect a higher projected baseline of Marketplace morbidity than previously expected."
Centene announced that it was refiling its 2026 rates "to reflect a higher projected baseline of Marketplace morbidity than previously expected."
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... nsion.html
Advantage Solutions to move from Commerce Bank Tower to Centene Plaza C due to outgrowing their 6,000 square foot space.
They will be leasing 20,000 square feet at Cenetene Plaza C, making the building nearly fully occupied. They signed a 10 year lease at Commerce Tower, so they say they plan so sublease it moving forward.
Advantage Solutions to move from Commerce Bank Tower to Centene Plaza C due to outgrowing their 6,000 square foot space.
They will be leasing 20,000 square feet at Cenetene Plaza C, making the building nearly fully occupied. They signed a 10 year lease at Commerce Tower, so they say they plan so sublease it moving forward.