Office & Commercial Archives - Bush Construction

River Bend Food Bank

Posted on December 10, 2024

River Bend Food Bank was facing a good problem – they were running out of space for their daily operations!

Our team constructed a 10,000 square foot addition to the existing building to expand office space. We also added a small office within the warehouse to streamline the shipping process. Additionally, a new parking lot was built to accommodate volunteer and employee parking.

The project was carried out in multiple phases to ensure uninterrupted business operations. Firstly, we installed the new parking lot so the old one could be replaced to make room for the office space addition. After completing the addition, the office staff moved into the new space, allowing us to demolish the old office area and create more warehouse and volunteer space.

Notably, the water service for the project had to be adjusted to meet a city requirement for a fire hydrant located on the other side of the railroad tracks. While this modification initially posed a significant cost burden to the owner, our team found an alternative method to install the hydrant, resulting in substantial cost savings.

Switch Office Renovation

Posted on December 10, 2024

Switch is a dynamic and multi-faceted St. Louis-based advertising agency that works as both an ideas and branding firm, as well as in event production and fabrication. When Switch approached Bush, they had half of their team in a downtown loft building and half in a defunct strip mall, two miles away, with a desire to bring everyone under one roof by expanding their space in the former shopping center, creating one 90,000 sf office and production hub for the firm.

Our challenge was to find a way to expand what Switch had already begun, while also make a new creative office space in a banal 30,000 sf former office supply store, that would inspire a group accustomed to their cozy loft offices. To do this, we embraced the bigness of the space, creating a dynamic open work area with carefully placed break-out spaces, a game room, a bar, and all of it centered around a winding two-story ramp and amphitheater. This ramp and amphitheater can accommodate a customized tour of Switch’s work for prospective clients, or a whole company meeting, creating a hub that fits their unique culture and style. Our first clue that the team would like the space was the razor scooter races that broke out on the ramp before we could finish construction.

Clementine’s Creamery

Posted on December 10, 2024

After completing a small permitting set for an interior renovation at another location, the owner of Clementine’s Creamery asked us to help her design and build her first “ground-up” location in South City. Initially, we tried to preserve a small building on the site, but after determining it was not structurally adequate, we were forced to remove it, keeping only part of the rubble foundation.

The result was a one-story brick building that was reflective of the Clementine’s “not your typical ice cream parlor” brand. Vintage parlor characteristics like tiny, square black and white tiles, delicate cafe tables inside and out, and a symmetrical, classic turn-of-the-century building shape are part of the design, but known for its boozy, (naughty) flavors, we put a twist on the typical St. Louis red brick. Two sheens of black brick in a clad the front facade, creating frames around the doors and windows and a diamond pattern that can be seen as the light shifts throughout the day.

We worked with the owner to get all of the details right on the aesthetics and the functionality of the space. The serving, kitchen, storage and queuing areas were meticulously thought out for the best customer experience.

Garcia Properties: Headquarters & Multifamily

Posted on December 10, 2024

This adaptive-reuse transforms a historic auto dealership and showroom into the headquarters for a local real estate developer and construction company. The first floor is an open office space with 15 apartments above.

To maximize flexibility and capitalize on an underserved market in St. Louis, the owner suggested micro-apartments. After exploring more conventional unit arrangements, it was discovered that a self-contained, furniture-like pod including a kitchen, bath, and storage was conducive to semi-transient dwellers, made a more interesting distinction between existing and new, and created an opportunity for an economy of scale for the developer – most of the pods are the same and only change orientation.

The design takes advantage of the existing structure including a concrete ramp- historically used to get cars to the roof- heavy concrete slabs, and rhythmic distribution of structure. While many of the units reference a mechanical sameness, drawing upon the industrial past of the building, the ramp creates a situation in the penthouse for a more unique apartment. The unit is tiered over three plateaus that lead to a roof deck and separate studio with city views.

The renovation included a complete restoration of the building exterior. All of the historic window openings had been made smaller with masonry, and non-historic replacement windows, and covered by large awnings. Now, the exterior features windows that revive the design and transparency of the original structure.

Gadellnet

Posted on December 10, 2024

The new Gadellnet headquarters are located in the completely renovated and re-purposed Lunar Tool Building in the Botanical Heights Neighborhood. Gadellnet, a start-up IT company was looking for an office space that would work well for day-to-day workplace functions, and that would also be a differentiator when it came to recruiting new employees. The Lunar Tool Building was made up of two different warehouse buildings from different decades and both qualified for Historic Tax Credits.

The Gadellnet clients, three partners – were looking for open concept work space, flexible open space to accommodate large and small collaborative meetings, as well as conference rooms and offices of different sizes. Additionally, they needed a gym, and indoor and outdoor recreational space, and a large kitchen/bar area for employees and entertaining new clients. We incorporated many of the interesting features of the existing building into the design, maintaining the warehouse feel with large, glass garage doors, exposed brick, factory windows, exposed steel structure, and barn-style dock doors. An old crane became part of the structure that holds up one end of a new mezzanine in the space.

In addition to creating and building a unique design for the workspace, we worked with the client to develop the property, guiding them through a develop-to-suit process that included acquisition, financing, and incentives.

227 North Lindbergh

Posted on December 10, 2024

Our team completed exterior and interior renovations of this 1980s single-user building on Lindbergh in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Starting with a modest building that appeared fit for a Miami Vice episode, we reshaped the building through the addition of a large light monitor and new windows throughout, with a large canopy clad in a custom cedar veneer.

This one of a kind property is available for office, medical, or retail use. Contact Brent Crittenden for more details.

Montessori Training Center

Posted on December 10, 2024

Situated at 3854 Washington Avenue in Grand Center, this new facility will both train future teachers and certify them in Montessori education. It will also have a school on-site in which experience teachers and teachers in training will work with infants and Toddlers.

Montessori education and instruction emphasizes independence as well as a respect for a child’s natural development. Part of Montessori training includes teaching young children to clean-up after themselves but also to take turns serving their fellow classmates. Low cabinets and sinks were installed at the center so that children aged 3-5 can wash plates and prepare meals.

The Montessori Training Center is another welcome addition to the ever-developing Grand Center area, and we were excited to be a part of this redevelopment. We will continue to work with The Montessori Training Center as they complete their master plan in Grand Center.

Tower Grove Mews

Posted on December 10, 2024

A rough-shod conglomeration of buildings, the Tower Grove Mews historic stable complex had lots of potential, but was so dark and full of junk, it was hard to imagine. Once we were able to clean out the buildings, we discovered a pretty amazing space in the stable-turned-warehouse. And ultimately, we completely rebuilt that part of the structure after discovering that the roof was held up by storage pallets stacked high. The old stable space formerly housed our St. Louis office, and has since been converted to apartments. There are also three other storefront retail spaces, a restaurant space, and 10 loft-style apartments – all surrounding an open space that accommodates some required parking spots, but also made a charming courtyard, conducive to some great music and festival events.

With exposed brickwork and ceilings, sealed concrete floors, and a number of features from the building’s former use left in place, the one and two bedroom apartments are very unique, full of character, and are what you might imagine when you think of a loft apartment. Exposed brick and timber trusses, full-wall glass garage doors, and old machinery make up some of the features of the apartments.

The project was a development, design, build effort by our team. We worked with the City of St. Louis to complete the design and with the state of Missouri on completing the requirements necessary to receive Historic Tax Credits.

Wild Carrot

Posted on December 10, 2024

For years, the building at 3901 Shaw Avenue sat unnoticed and slowly deteriorating. While sometimes occupied by a retail tenant or small corner market use, the building was unrecognizable as something that was once a neighborhood gathering space. When the building was suggested as an option to our client by the City, we realized that it had actually been the Shaw Theater in a past life and at about 9300 square feet, was exactly what we were looking for. After exploring the interior, we realized that the old theater portion had huge barrel trusses, exposed brick and other interesting details.

Our team consulted on the development, helping our client to find the building, negotiate the purchase with the City, and utilize Historic Tax Credits. We brought her vision of an event space for hosting weddings and events for up to 200 people. To host variable-sized events, we needed to make the space flexible while respecting the old theater space architecturally. For the most part, we left the space open and exposed, and inserted small, contrasting volumes into the space to house the kitchen, bar, mezzanine, bride and grooms’ rooms, and storage. The arrangement of these spaces allows for variable sized events and some of the existing architectural features create opportunities to divide the space and curate to an event – and also make those evermore important “Instagram-able” moments.

The design and construction team worked collaboratively to create a great space that worked with the budget. We completely renovated the ground floor interior of the building into and event space and a small 2nd floor apartment into an apartment or Air BnB that can be rented along with the space. Using historic tax credits, the exterior was refurbished to its former glory as the Shaw Theater. A large and impressive historic canopy and ticket booth were reconstructed on the front of the building. We worked with the State Historic Preservation Office to make other thoughtful modifications to accommodate the new use.

City Garden Montessori School

Posted on December 10, 2024

City Garden Montessori Charter School is a grass roots public charter school serving children from pre-school through 8th grade. The school serves the children in the Shaw, Botanical Heights, and Forest Park Southeast neighborhoods and consistently rates as one of the top performing schools in the State of Missouri. Like many community initiated charter schools, City Garden began with kindergarteners and first graders only. As the children aged through the school and new students came into the kindergarten level, the school grows to its planned size. The funding formula is based on a per student allocation from the state, so in these early years, charter schools have to be smart about their expenses and facility choices.

When the City Garden board and staff began working with our team, they had been operating for three years in the basement of a generous church, but were facing an impending crunch of space as their enrollment expanded. At the same time, they were not quite to 50% of the eventual enrolment and with this the funding to make the next step in their facilities need. Working collaboratively with City Garden, the community, and our lending partners, we developed a financially viable facility solution that would allow for a new long term facility on an escalating lease plan that modeled the school’s growth, with later options for purchasing the building. This allowed the school to move into the facility they needed on the terms that fit their budget, and concentrate their efforts on educating children and positively impacting the community.

Our design and construction teams followed the development process, creating an exceptional design in this 1940’s warehouse building, on a short timeline. This once nearly abandoned and boarded up building, now features large naturally lit classrooms, a central atrium space, gymnasium and pending LEED certification.

To find out more about City Garden, please visit www.citygardenschool.org.