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Riverfront is For Sale; Event Space Appears to Have Closed

2 years 2 months ago
From St. Louis Business Journal:  The former Bissinger’s headquarters and event space is for sale, as the event business that occupied the space, called the Caramel Room, appears to have closed. The 226,000-square-foot property, located at 1600 N. Broadway, was purchased by Bissinger’s in 2013 for $4 million. The company spent $11 million to renovate […]
Zo

Cohen Woodworking Rebrands Focusing on Innovation and Growth

2 years 2 months ago
Cohen Woodworking, announces it is launching a new brand identity to focus on the company’s innovation in woodworking design with dynamic plans for future growth. Cohen has created a new logo, a new mark, and has redesigned its website. Created by graphic designer Rachel Cohen, the logo boldly accentuates the name “Cohen”, a brand well-known […]
Dede Hance

Alberici, Hillsdale Fabricators Showcase Construction Careers for 100+ Students & Educators

2 years 2 months ago
Opportunities abound in the construction industry for well-paying careers with benefits – a fact that Alberici Constructors and Hillsdale Fabricators impressed upon more than 100 St. Louis area high school students and educators. On April 7, 2023, they gathered at Hillsdale Fabricators at 2150 Kienlen Ave. in North St. Louis to get hands-on experience in welding, […]
Dede Hance

Developer Proposes Second Hotel Next to New Bass Pro in Sunset Hills

2 years 2 months ago
From St. Louis Business Journal:  A developer hopes to build a second hotel next to his existing hospitality property in south St. Louis County, next to the site of a soon-to-open Bass Pro Shops location. Developer H.R. Sheevam of Brentwood Hotels, which in December 2021 opened a newly built 78-room Comfort Suites hotel that replaced […]
Zo

An Alternate Construction Method for Resilient Affordable Housing

2 years 2 months ago
From Gensler:  Affordable housing in the United States has long been constructed utilizing lowest-cost materials and methods, resulting in low density, mid-quality, and short-lived buildings. Traditionally, wood framed construction is the lowest cost, accommodating clients with smaller budgets, and making it an easy choice for maximizing return. However, affordable wood frame construction has structural limitations, […]
Zo

Edwardsville’s Park North Plans Golf Facility, Restaurant

2 years 2 months ago
From The Telegraph:  A public hearing has been tentatively set for 6:30 p.m. May 16 on the pending Park North development on Edwardsville’s eastern edge. The endeavor includes a planned golf facility with an 18-hole putting course, an upscale restaurant and a sports bar on a 94-acre development at the southwest corner of Illinois 143 […]
Zo

Aldermen Disagreed on Need for New Route 159 Trail

2 years 2 months ago
From The Intelligencer:  Construction started March 17 on a 10-foot-wide shared-use path that will run down the west side of Plum Street and is expected to cost nearly half a million dollars. Built in two phases and funded by three different grants, the trail will begin with a 1,100-foot segment that links West Magnolia Street […]
Zo

Material Prices are Finally Lower Than a Year Ago

2 years 2 months ago
From Construction Dive:  Dive Brief:  Construction input prices, or how much it costs to build a given project, fell for the first time in more than 18 months on a year-over-year basis, but were still 39% higher than February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic sent supply chains reeling. Both overall construction prices and nonresidential costs […]
Zo

Mills Properties $54M Apartment Project is Latest for Maryland Heights

2 years 2 months ago
From St. Louis Business Journal:  A developer wants to build hundreds of luxury apartments in Maryland Heights, in a $54 million mixed-use development that would come at a site originally targeted for office buildings. Mills Properties, based in Brentwood and led by founder and Chairman Bruce Mills and President and CEO Kirk Mills, is behind […]
Zo

Banking Turmoil Stirs Up New Headwinds for Construction

2 years 2 months ago
From Construction Dive:  Signs point to decreased construction activity in coming months as financing costs for many developers have become prohibitively high, sources told Construction Dive. For example, increased interest rates are making construction projects more risky and less profitable, said Nicolas McNamara, director of project management at CBRE, a Dallas-based commercial real estate services […]
Zo

How Smart Mixed-Use Environments Can Redefine Urban Spaces

2 years 2 months ago
From Gensler:  The post-pandemic world has given rise to an expanded list of expectations from urban environments. Single-purpose, single-use buildings or districts are no longer sufficient to cater to the varied needs of contemporary audiences. People crave in-person experiences, but they require destinations that deliver meaningful encounters to make the hassle of dressing up, commuting, […]
Zo

Forum Names “Future Is Now” Award Honorees

2 years 2 months ago
by Tom Finan, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Construction Forum Construction Forum’s 10th Anniversary award program will focus on organizations which have shown consistent effort and innovation focused on systems change for inclusive, robust employment and economic growth in the St. Louis Region. The unique, anniversary-year presentations have been named “The Future Is Now Awards”. For […]
Tom Finan

Ben-Hur Construction Hires New CEO From St. Louis-Based Clayco Unit

2 years 2 months ago
From St. Louis Business Journal:  St. Louis construction company Ben Hur Construction has a new CEO, following the March resignation of its previous leader. Koray Ozgenc will take over the helm of the company effective Monday, April 17, the firm announced Friday. He will succeed previous CEO Jim Schug, who resigned in March. Longtime Ben […]
Zo

It Took a Partnership To Make This Village

2 years 2 months ago
From CoStar:  Sometimes, it takes a partnership to make a village. In the case of Union at the Grove, Green Street Real Estate Ventures teamed with a consortium of local interests to bring six multifamily buildings to the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood during a pandemic that created financing challenges and construction delays. Partners in the […]
Zo

VIDEO: Honest Talk Can Curb Worker Suicide

2 years 2 months ago
This past Saturday (April 15)  Dr. John Gaal, director of worker wellness for the MO Works Initiative, participated in the “Hike for Hope” in Tampa, FL. The walk event was co-sponsored by American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and  focused on suicide prevention in the construction industry. The organizer of the walk was Vince Hafeli,  president […]
Tom Finan

PERSPECTIVE: 45 Years of “Good Faith” Efforts to Put Women on Jobsites Reach Day of Reckoning

2 years 2 months ago
by Tom Finan, Executive Director/Co-Founder, Construction Forum On April 7th we “celebrated” the 45th anniversary of the Executive Order that dictated that the percentage of tradeswomen be set at 6.9% on federally-funded jobs. I use “celebrated” in quotations because in all those years we’ve never reached that high a number. That’s about to change. But […]
Tom Finan

Childhood Trauma Show Up on Jobsite

2 years 2 months ago
by John Gaal, EdD, director of worker wellness, Missouri Works Initiative Editor’s Note: Each week, Dr. John Gaal, director of worker wellness for the Missouri Works Initiative, a non-profit workforce formed by the Missouri AFL-CIO, collects and comments on news and trends in workforce wellness and life balance. Construction Forum will be carrying the Worker […]
Tom Finan

Bill Hellmuth, Chairman & CEO of HOK, Dies at 69

2 years 2 months ago
An extraordinary architect and leader, Hellmuth designed dozens of award-winning buildings across the globe and, as president and later chairman and CEO of HOK, raised HOK’s profile within the design community and beyond. During his leadership, HOK was listed as one of the world’s most influential companies by Time Magazine, repeatedly earned mention in Fast […]
Dede Hance

Carpenters Union Challenges Fraudulent Contractors

2 years 2 months ago
According to a new study, the state of Missouri is losing out on nearly $250 million each year because of shady construction companies and the Carpenters Union wants it to stop. Carpenters Union representative R.J. Catizon addresses the Wentzville City Council on the problem of tax fraud in Missouri’s construction industry, Wednesday, April 12, 2023. […]
Dede Hance

Congestion in STL has Changed, Will it Last?

2 years 2 months ago
A new Where We Stand Update reports, the St. Louis region stands about in the middle among the peer regions on roadway congestion. This is different than what has been seen in the recent past, when the region has consistently been one of the least congested large metropolitan regions. It is too soon to tell if these […]
Dede Hance