Ground Breaks on 1 MSF St. Louis Mixed-Use Project
Forsyth Pointe in Clayton, Mo., which will include 450,000 square feet of office space, is scheduled for completion in 2022.
McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. has started construction of US Capital Development’s Forsyth Pointe mixed-use office project in Clayton, Mo. The 1 million-square-foot development will add approximately 455,000 square feet of office space to the suburban St. Louis market.
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Forsyth Pointe is a true local endeavor, with the development, design and construction teams all based in metropolitan St. Louis. Designed by Christner Architects and Cedergreen LLC, the project will consist of two towers connected by a seven-level parking facility. The property’s 10-story east tower will feature 265,000 square feet of space, while the eight-story west tower will encompass 210,000 square feet. In addition to premier office accommodations, Forsyth Pointe’s steel-framed glass structures will include street-level retail space totaling 20,000 square feet. And the property’s 500,000-square-foot parking facility will offer 1,250 spaces and a roof-level garden terrace spanning an entire acre.
Early in Forsyth Pointe’s design phase, McCarthy, in its role as construction manager, incorporated an integrated virtual design and construction process for the project; it was a prescient move that would prove useful, as construction in Missouri continued amid the spread of COVID-19. “Using an integrated VDC process provides the opportunity to work effectively and remotely with the owner, designer and trade partners using cloud-based building information modeling collaboration platforms accessible by all team members,” a spokesperson for McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. told Commercial Property Executive. “Our top priority is first and foremost safety. We are committed to staying on top of each new development and to serving as an active partner in keeping our communities healthy.”
Down but not out
The St. Louis office market has not gone unscathed by the consequences of the pandemic-related stay-at-home orders; however, the second quarter of 2020 brought a bit of good news. The metropolitan St. Louis’s Class A office segment posted positive net absorption during the three-month period, according to a report by CBRE. And in Clayton, the vacancy rate for Class A assets was just 5.5 percent, the second-lowest vacancy rate for Class A offerings in the entire metro area. Forsyth Pointe is reportedly approximately 80 percent preleased. McCarthy expects to deliver the project in the summer of 2022.
