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World Wide Technology's New Headquarters

World Wide Technology's New Headquarters

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May 11, 2013#1

I don't remember seeing this in the St. Louis Business Journal or St. Louis Post-Dispatch. However, with the Boeing announcement, here's more good news.

Apparently, this was a quiet ribbon-cutting.

World Wide Technology (WWT), one of the region's biggest private companies, opened its new headquarters expansion in St. Louis County on April 24th. The nearly 60,000 square foot building known as 701 Fee Fee (Maryland Heights), will serve as WWT's corporate and administrative offices.

It's a small built-to-suit building, but this expansion is further indication of St. Louis' growing IT sector.

At $5-billion, WWT is one of St. Louis' largest private firms, the nation's largest minority-owned firm and often ranks in the Fortune 100 for Best Places To Work. It has 2,200 employess - about a 600 of them in St. Louis.

WWT also has a 700,000 sf distribution center at Gateway Commerce Center in Madison.

World Wide Technology, Inc. (WWT) is a systems integrator that provides innovative technology and supply chain solutions to the commercial, government and telecom sectors.


May 23, 2013#2

The P-D is late with this, but oh well.

World Wide Technology opens new HQ
3 hours ago • By Tim Logan
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
05/22/13

World Wide Technology Inc. said Wednesday that it had finished work on its new headquarters in Maryland Heights.
The fast-growing systems-integration company has added at least 100 jobs as part of the expansion, St. Louis County officials said.

The new 57,200-square-foot facility on Fee Fee Road will house continued growth, said chief executive officer Jim Kavanaugh.

“WWT’s continuing success and growth has driven this expansion and the new facility is a natural extension of our well-established commitment to transformative technologies,” he said in a press release.

One of the St. Louis region’s largest private companies, World Wide Technology says its revenue climbed to $5 billion last year, up from $3 billion in 2010. It has added about 500 jobs companywide in the last 18 months, a spokesman said. Today the company, which makes data storage, networking and wireless technology for the military and large private companies, employs about 2,200 people, at least 600 here in St. Louis.

World Wide Technology’s growth is the latest in a string of expansions in the region’s tech industry, said Denny Coleman, president of the St. Louis County Economic Council. Boeing Co., Monsanto Co., department-store operator Hudson’s Bay Co. and other companies have all added high-tech jobs in recent months, too.

“We’ve just seen an explosion of IT jobs here,” said Coleman, who notes that World Wide Technology’s new positions pay, on average, $100,000 a year. “There’s a real cluster that’s forming around this in St. Louis.”

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May 23, 2013#3

World Wide Technology opens new headquarters in St. Louis
7:35 PM, May 22, 2013
KSDK

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. (KSDK) - World Wide Technologyannounced Wednesday it has opened a new headquarters building on its St. Louis campus.

The 57,200 square foot building was built with LEED and environmental building practices and will allow for the company's rapid growth and enable collaboration and innovation.

"WWT's continuing success and growth has driven this expansion and the new facility is a natural extension of our well-established commitment to transformative technologies," said Jim Kavanaugh, chief executive officer of WWT. "We are excited about the addition of WWT's new headquarters to our growing global footprint, its potential to expand our capabilities, and the fact that we were able to reduce the environmental impact of new construction while expanding our enterprise."

The building includes 10 video-enabled rooms with three SMART boards; high-definition conferencing; open-office layout with collaboration areas, huddle rooms, working cafes, and conference rooms; 150-seat auditorium with new audio and video technology; digital signs to communicate with employees and guests; and a state-of-the-art executive briefing center.

The new building resides at 701 Fee Fee Road in Maryland Heights.

Source
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May 23, 2013#4

Good to see that the building's demons were cast out.
Not enough construction projects start off on a good foot like this.
:lol:

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May 23, 2013#5

juSTLovely wrote:
Good to see that the building's demons were cast out.
Not enough construction projects start off on a good foot like this.
:lol:
Maybe we should try that with the Railway Exchange building...
@PresbyterianStl

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May 24, 2013#6

arch city wrote:WWT is...the nation's largest minority-owned firm
Mean to reply the day AC posted this and wrote a long-winded, rambling expository and gave up.

But short version—how is this not getting more traction? According to The Root, their revenue was twice that of #2.

Somewhat rhetorical as I'm not in the Selling-the-city/RCGA/Corp relo business and not hearing the area's selling points, but this is a claim the whole metro should be bragging about.
Seek the peace and prosperity of the city, pray for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. Jeremiah 29:7

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May 26, 2013#7

Not a bad looking building. As always however, I think, it could have been larger.....

In a few years or so, especially if revenues and employee growth continue on an upward trend, I imagine WWT will need to expand again. WWT might have plans for a nice little campus in MH. In my estimation, Boeing IT's 600 workers are going to need three-to-four times the size this space, which is roughly 58,000 square feet.



See larger photo here.
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Mar 20, 2015#8

BizJournal reporting that WWT is looking for a new HQ. The are considering expanding in Westport working with Bob O'Laughlin or moving to Edwardsville. I'm glad to hear the second largest private firm is growing but sheesh.

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Mar 20, 2015#9

Good God, just move downtown!!!

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Mar 20, 2015#10

from the article
WWT, with $6.8 billion in revenue for 2014, is the second-largest privately held company in the region. It added about 500 employees in 2014, and Kavanaugh said he expects to add another 600 people this year.
A new headquarters would add 1,000 employees to Westport Plaza, where 4,000 people already work. O’Loughlin said if the project moves forward, it would be a game-changer for the complex and its businesses, which include a handful of restaurants and hotels.

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Mar 20, 2015#11

Does anyone under 35 actually want to work at/commute to Westport Plaza? Just asking...

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Mar 20, 2015#12

Randy wrote:Does anyone under 35 actually want to work at/commute to Westport Plaza? Just asking...
Not a soul. Westport is so 1990's.

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Mar 20, 2015#13

^ What gets me and maybe he has. But it would be interesting to note if Bob with LHM offered up an Union Station site!! LHM owns and is developing both Westport and Union Station if correct. Also, from his comment on Westport, I can only assume that preference is to stay close to the current home as the executives and current employees (making a big assumption that most life in West County) also want the convenience of their drive and even a quicker drive/car ride to Lambert.

This is what is so brutal about a metro area over two states and when executives express little or any faith in the core. Simply put, the chief financial officer set off the arms race for who can offer the best incentive package. The CFO can only win in this situation and employees can find themselves on the other side of the metro area if he can get a big pay day on the books by pitting MO vs. IL.

Another thought, CORTEX are you in the game, have an eye on the ball? WWT seems a lot better fit here then Westport and would be a perfect opportunity for the city to score if it gets in the game as well as a better chance of securing a future work force.

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Mar 20, 2015#14

In my opinion, the latest proposal is the result of POOR planning by WWT planners.

WWT just spent $55-million or so on a new average-looking building, now they are about to expand again.

I wrote nearly two years ago that this would happen.

They just built their new 57,200-square-foot facility. Now there's a possibility of a 200,000 building? They should have just built a 250,000sf signature building - not necessarily a tower - in anticipation of another expansion because the firm is growing so rapidly.

WWT is a private company so they could have built an awesome edifice without necessarily worrying about all of the meddelsome shareholders. Something like RGA's new HQs design would have been nice.

I personally don't understand why they just won't choose CORTEX. It's ripe for a company like theirs. They could be an awesome anchor.

And here's a blurb from today's SLBJ's Techflashes,
World Wide Technology is closing in on an acquisition that would add another 250 to 300 jobs to its workforce in St. Louis, said CEO Jim Kavanaugh.
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Mar 20, 2015#15

Someone please go to City Hall, grab Mayor Slay by the earlobe, drag him out, throw him in the car and drive him to WWT HQ. Then take him inside and find out what they want to move downtown (or to Cortex). Whatever they say, the only correct answer is "Yes".
Uppity Doopity Dop

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Mar 20, 2015#16

^Yeah, even though CORTEX, in my opinion, would be a better fit, imagine a WWT building in BPV hovering over Busch Stadium.

Because WWT has a massive facility at Gateway Commerce Center in Edwardsville and a mini-campus in Maryland Heights, a downtown St. Louis or CORTEX HQs would balance out their operations locations.

St. Louis is too lame though. It'll never happen.
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Mar 20, 2015#17

Dweebe, I think your comment would be more appropriate if someone would go to WWT and drag its President to Cortex or Downtown. Clearly a WWT executive is not even going out of his way to mention the City or Cortex. That might be very much a function of the corporate suite.

Also, I can only assume that going to Slay is pointless because in the framework of combing the county and city development agencies is an understanding that the company already here has to state its preference and an incentive package is based around that decision. That prevents both the city and county beating each other up only to move a company already here and apparently is going to acquire and expand its local work force. Still a win win for the regions job number. I think it is a good decision that the city and county cooperate in the long term and one of the many things that need to happen to attract companies from outside of the region. What is more frustrating in my mind, It is that WWT clearly set off an incentive arms race with Illinois.

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Mar 20, 2015#18

Mayor Slay, Econ. Devo and Downtown Partnership need to get off their Arses and host company executives to downtown daytime tours..... downtown is hopping on a nice day like today with all the things going on and we need to get it through these horrible Country Club execs that downtown is where talented young people congregate and want to be. From millennial spots like Bailey's and Sauce on the Side to upscale like Tony's to food trucks and Citygarden you can actually enjoy your freaking lunch break and after work hours. You can't tell me a decent number of WWT or Enterprise workers for example wouldn't prefer to work downtown if there was a downtown office choice.
@STLRainbow

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Mar 20, 2015#19

^Not to mention the young talent that they'll need to attract to be able to continue to grow.

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Mar 20, 2015#20

I get that businesses don't want to move downtown for whatever reason... but would it hurt to hear from public officials that they're at least pursuing them?! At least show that you're being proactive and not just throwing in the towel from the get go.
"If there's two things I love, it's irony, miscounting and the Oxford comma."
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Mar 21, 2015#21

^ I suspect you will hear from a few politicians in time. Maybe some free land offers will come about if the NGA move is any indication of things to come for the metro area. Yell it loud enough that your going to build a new HQ and at some point someone is probably going to give you a forgiveable $60 million dollar loan.

I do have to defend some of the respective silence from St. Louis county and the city politicians and their respective economic officials. The long term benefit for both is to have an united economic development agency and front/incentive package driven by what a company wants or desires and that is also reasonable and responsible to the taxpayers You might not get that united front with all parties of the region including St. Charles/Franklin or Metro East (Illinois) but a united County/City front is vital going forward in my opinion. Having a three ring circus of every Mayor and county official getting out their blow horn just creates noise.

Also, I'm pretty sure at some point and time every developer who had gotten whiff of this has called WWT including Cordish/DeWitt, McKee, Koman, Clayco and so on. Heck, LHM is developing Union Station. I can't back it up but have no doubt that a more than a few options have been thrown at WWT for CWE (think Koplar/Koman) CORTEX and Downtown (BPV, Northside, BottleWorks) as well as upteen other locations anywhere from Northpark (Clayco) to Fenton. The best I can state if they do settle on Westport at least they settle on the one spot the county wants to send the next metrolink line too and therefore maybe better transit access for future employees who want an urban lifestyle outside of their cubicle.

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Mar 31, 2015#22

No Dan Gilberts at World Wide Technology

KMOX - No Dan Gilberts at World Wide Technology
Given reports and studies about millennials’ apparent affinity for downtown living and mass transit access, has World Wide considered locating in the city?

“We have nothing against downtown St. Louis or CORTEX,” Kavanaugh said, of two areas dubbed as budding tech centers. “What we’re looking at is to create that same atmosphere and some of the Silicon Valley look and feel.”
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2015/03/30/ ... dquarters/

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Mar 31, 2015#23

Yesterday 3 people shot, 2 people killed at 10th and Park. Shots fired at 17th and Chestnut and some of the pie-in-the-sky New Urbanists wants WWT to move their HQ downtown.

HAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHA...thanks for the humor.

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Mar 31, 2015#24

And its all sunshine and lollipops in downtown Detroit, I'm sure.

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Mar 31, 2015#25

I honestly believe that if the City wasn't so crime-y and ghetto-y companies would be lined up for a spot at BPV. But we have to deal with reality. It's really that simple. And frustrating. And tragic.

I mean, what company wouldn't want an incentive-laden deal for a spot next to the home of the beloved St. Louis Cardinals!

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