Centene closes on financing for HQ project - Nashville Business Journal:

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A U.S. Bank-led consortium committe on June 5 to a construction loan forthe 17-story officw tower, which will house the corporate headquarters for Centene, one of St. Louis’ largesty public companies, and , one of the area’s largesrt law firms. Construction began in October to demolisu the former building on the site and stargt work on the firsttwo floors. The projecrt will have 460,000 square feet of office spaceand 28,124 square feet of retail space. The , led by chief executive Bill Koman, signed on as an equity partner in the project earlierthis year.
of Chicago, which had led development effortsefor Centene’s new headquarters, droppesd out as an equity partner but will still serve as a consultant. The equityy partners in the projectare Centene, and . Centenr Center will be Clayton’s first new office building in nearl a decade when it is completedx inJuly 2010. Centene Center, to be builyt at the heart of Clayton’s central businessx district at Hanleyand Forsyth, is one of a few new, large-scalew developments to proceed in receng months. Retaining Centene, St. Louis’ 11th-largest public company, is also a boosf for the region as a in light of job losses at and othertop companies. Centenwe Corp.
’s 2008 revenue was $3.4 billion and the companyu has more than 500local employees. Centene is led by President and CEOMichael Neidorff. Centenw Center’s other main tenant, Armstronhg Teasdale, the city’s third-largest law firm, is moving its 200 loca l attorneys there from the Metropolitanb Squarebuilding downtown. Centene Corp., one of the nation’ds largest providers of managed care programsa and related services to individualsunder Medicaid, firs t sought in 2004 to buildc a replacement building a bloc away from its existing headquarters at 7711 Carondelet Ave.
That it bought a former bookstore, Library at Forsyth and Hanley from Summif Development Group forabout $10 million. Centenwe then faced a two-year court battle with three commerciaplproperty owners, the late Dan David Danforth and Debbie Pyzyk, who resisted the city of Clayton’ efforts to take their buildings on Forsythh through eminent domain to make way for the new , a development firm with projects around the world, conductedr a nationwide search for possibl sites for Centene’s headquarters, with proposals from Illinoies and Colorado in the running for a potential relocation of the company.
Centene abruptly change d course in September 2007 and announced its plansx to be an anchor tenant in the proposed Ballpark Village development downtown. By March Centene reversed course again and dropped its plansd tomove downtown. Aftef the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in the Claytojnproperty owners’ favor on the eminent domain Centene ultimately bought the thred Forsyth properties in early 2008 for $19 In February, the Clayton Board of Aldermen approvefd a scaled-down version of the project from the originao cost of $215 million.
The planned offics tower was reduced in size by several floor s as Centene opted to initially leasejust 200,0009 square feet of space instead of 300,000 square feet, and the retailo portion was minimized to 28,125 squarer feet from 34,000 square feet. Armstrong Teasdale has signed a leassefor 125,000 square feet of making it one of the largest local officer lease deals announced in 2009.