ST. LOUIS — St. Louis-based HDA Architects is refocusing on its core business in a move that returns sole ownership of the company to HDA President Jack Holleran under a new name, HDA Design. In 2020, Green Street Real Estate Ventures acquired HDA. As part of the transition, HDA’s leadership team will work alongside Holleran. In August 2023, HDA promoted four key employees as part of its strategic plan. Patrick Holleran and Brice Zickuhr were named senior principals, and Josh Goodman and Kent Wagster were named principals. The firm currently has active projects in 12 states across the beverage wholesaler, industrial/distribution, adaptive reuse, office/commercial, automotive, multifamily, mixed-use and hospitality sectors. HDA is currently reviewing opportunities to relocate its headquarters within the St. Louis area. The new office will be designed by the firm.
KIRKWOOD, MO. — Brinkmann Constructors has completed The James, a 152-unit apartment complex in the western St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood. High Street Residential, a subsidiary of Trammell Crow Co., was the developer. The five-story development includes 285 parking spaces and 7,000 square feet of retail space. Amenities include a pool, courtyard, entertainment lounge, fitness center, pet spa, work-from-home space and coffee bar. ESG Architecture & Design served as the project architect. Monthly rents start at $1,603, according to the property’s website.
SPRINGFIELD, MO. — Sentinel Net Lease has sold the Chase Operations Center, a 268,413-square-foot office building in Springfield, a city in southwest Missouri. The sales price was undisclosed. A local healthcare operator purchased the property. Holding the asset for less than two years, Sentinel generated an internal rate of return of 45 percent and produced a return on invested capital of 1.9 times. The sale marks one of the most profitable office transactions nationwide over the past several years, according to Sentinel. Ross Murray of R.B. Murray Co. brokered the transaction.
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Banksia is opening a 5,300-square-foot restaurant at 1111 Main, the largest office building in Kansas City, according to owner Copaken Brooks. The Australian-inspired café and bistro is relocating from its existing downtown location at 105 W. 9th St. The new restaurant is slated to open this spring. Copaken Brooks is performing the owner’s representative services for Banksia’s build-out. Banksia will offer patio seating, a full bar, coffee, breakfast, lunch and dinner service as well as private event spaces. Tiffany Ruzicka of AREA Real Estate Advisors represented the tenant, while Erin Johnston of Copaken Brooks represented ownership.
By Matt Hrubes and Joshua Allen, CBRE St. Louis is located at the crossroads of the U.S. at the intersection of I-55 (north/south) and I-70 (east/west), making it a prime location for industrial real estate users and developers alike. The Greater St. Louis area is separated by the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, giving it a natural division of industrial submarkets. Each side of the Mississippi River tells a different story as it relates to industrial real estate. Metro East To the east of the Mississippi River is the Metro East industrial submarket, which was the first in the area to offer real estate tax abatement, resulting in larger industrial developments ranging in size from 500,000 square feet to over 1 million square feet. Over the last decade, this area has seen some of the largest speculative developments in the region from national developers such as Panattoni, NorthPoint and Exeter, as well as local developers like TriStar. Absorption had been at all-time highs with groups like Amazon, World Wide Technology, Geodis, Sam’s Club, P&G and Tesla leasing space as buildings were being completed. That is, until 2023 when a wave of space became available either through sublease, speculative development completions or …
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Academy Bank, a full-service community bank and family-owned subsidiary of Dickinson Financial Corp., has opened a new retail branch within the lobby of 1201 Walnut, a 29-story office tower owned by Copaken Brooks in downtown Kansas City. The bank also moved its corporate headquarters to three contiguous floors of the building totaling roughly 50,000 square feet. Additionally, the property now features Academy Bank signage. Of Academy Bank’s 71 branches, 23 are located throughout metro Kansas City. Sister bank Armed Forces Bank will maintain its headquarters in Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
OSAGE BEACH, MO. — Driftwood Capital has received a $60.5 million loan for the refinancing of the Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake of the Ozarks. The 520-room resort is located in Osage Beach, a central Missouri city situated along the Lake of the Ozarks. Located at 494 Tan Tar A Drive, the property includes a full-service marina, championship golf course, indoor water park, spa and seven restaurants and bars. Driftwood acquired the asset in 2017 and rebranded it from the Tan-Tar-A Resort into a Margaritaville hotel. Michael Weinberg and Scott Wadler of Driftwood worked with Alec Fox of Berkadia to secure the loan through Goldman Sachs Bank USA and Starwood Mortgage Capital. The five-year loan features interest-only payments for the full term.
By Nick Fiquette, Sansone Group Lingering effects of COVID-19 In the aftermath of the global pandemic, the St. Louis real estate market finds itself at a crossroads, continuing to see the persistent impacts of COVID-19. Corporate strategies are evolving as companies evaluate their real estate footprints to accommodate the changing work environment and desires of employees. As lease expirations loom, businesses are engaged in a delicate dance of evaluating their physical space needs. The pendulum of work-from-home policies, initially adopted to streamline footprints, appears to be swinging back. Recently, Edward Jones listed a 227,000-square-foot Class A building that it owns on the market for lease and is planning on occupying it instead. This example could serve as a positive indicator for the future of the office market. The market is transforming as companies look to accommodate employee demands, prioritizing safe, walkable areas and amenity-rich buildings. This shift is particularly evident in the struggle faced by commodity real estate, as businesses increasingly gravitate toward locations that contribute positively to the employee experience. As a result, investors are remaining cautious about purchasing office assets due to surging interest rates and uncertainties surrounding the future of the office market. Corporate giants reevaluate real …
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Quantum Real Estate Advisors Inc. has negotiated the sale of a CVS-occupied retail property in Kansas City for $2.2 million. CVS has nine years remaining on its lease. Nick Hilgendorf of Quantum represented the seller, a Midwest-based investor, and the buyer, a Southeast-based investment firm completing a 1031 exchange. Quantum also assisted the seller throughout its loan defeasance process.
ST. LOUIS — Keystone Construction Co. has completed a new production studio and headquarters for St. Louis CBS affiliate First Alert 4. The general contractor transformed an existing three-story, 45,000-square-foot office building through a major exterior and interior renovation project. The new space is 26 percent larger than First Alert 4’s previous space. The facility at 77 Progress Parkway features two broadcast studios with 14 presentation areas, a newsroom, two dressing rooms, two control rooms, a data center, seven satellites, LED-screen backgrounds and a fitness center. The design and engineering team included Partners by Design, Cole & Associates and Barrett, Woodyard & Associates. NAI Desco served as the real estate broker for the purchase of the building and two-acre lot.