Design Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Bush Construction

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.

The 4.3.2.1 Building

Posted on December 10, 2024

The 4.3.2.1 Building was the first new mixed-use building constructed in 15 years since the area entered a period of substantial growth and revitalization. Centrally located near Forest Park, it’s just a 10-minute walk to BJC HealthCare and CORTEX and minutes away from Clayton and downtown St. Louis with easy access to all major highways.

The three-story building includes 20 one- and two-bedroom apartments and two premier commercial spaces, as well as parking tucked under the building behind the commercial spaces on the ground level. The ground floor is clad in brick with large storefronts while the upper floors are clad in aluminum panels. Each unit features a contemporary open-plan design with a private deck, high ceilings and industrial textures such as reclaimed wood and stained concrete. Amenities include enclosed parking, a 24-hour private fitness facility, individual storage units, a rooftop terrace and a secured entrance.

DeTonty Street Apartments (DSA 2)

Posted on December 10, 2024

Located in the Historic Shaw Neighborhood, near the Missouri Botanical Gardens, DeTonty Street Apartments or DSA2, was the 2nd phase of a master plan that spanned three quarters of a block along DeTonty Street. The building is a three-story, new-construction walk-up building, with 20 studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units.

Similar to its sibling to the west (DSA 1), DSA 2 was inspired by other brick multi-family buildings in the area. The new walk-up building has high floor-to-ceiling heights, large windows, and Juliette balconies that follow neighboring precedents in both shape and size. The buildings have light, bright and open-concept units that renters love. The interior finishes are simple and modern with exposed concrete floors, industrial-style lighting, cabinets, and countertops. In this iteration of the building, the design team added some unique studio units to the third floor with vaulted ceilings and unique layouts that were leased in record time.

Our development, design and construction teams worked with the Shaw Neighborhood, The City, and CDA (Community Development Authority), and St. Louis Development Corporation on the design and incentives including tax abatement. DSA 1 was the first step toward satisfying the goal to fill a large gap in the urban fabric that was previously an eyesore and the completion of DSA 2 continued the execution of the master plan. Several for-sale townhomes and single-family homes included in the master plan were sold and built within the next few years as well.

DeTonty Street Apartments (DSA 1)

Posted on December 10, 2024

Located in the Historic Shaw Neighborhood, near the Missouri Botanical Gardens, DeTonty Street Apartments or DSA1, was the first phase of a master plan that spanned three quarters of a block along DeTonty Street. The two buildings in the first phase included a three-story, new-construction walk-up building, with 36 one and two-bedroom units, and smaller four-unit historic building renovation.

Inspired by other brick multi-family buildings in the area, the new walk-up building has high floor to ceiling heights, large windows, and Juliette balconies that follow neighboring precedents in both shape and size. The buildings have light, bright and open concept units that renters love. The interior finishes are simple and modern with exposed concrete floors, industrial-style lighting, cabinets, and countertops.

Our development, design and construction teams worked with the Shaw Neighborhood, The City, and CDA (Community Development Authority), and St. Louis Development Corporation on the design and incentives including tax abatement. DSA 1 was the first step toward satisfying the goal to fill a large gap in the urban fabric that was previously an eyesore. The successful completion of Phase 1 lead to Phase 2 (DSA2), next door, as well as several for-sale units included in the master plan.

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.

Climb So Ill at The Power Plant

Posted on October 1, 2024

When brothers and business partners David and Daniel Chancellor and partner Ian Anderson came to us they already had one of the best known and unique brands in the climbing holds and supply business, in So Ill, and wanted to launch an indoor climbing gym that would be on par with their holds business. Working with Bush (previously known as UIC), the team toured spaces across St. Louis, including abandoned malls and breweries, which were capable of holding up to 55 foot high walls and an existing massive bouldering wall. The final location selection was a truly one of a kind opportunity in the former Power Plant to what was the City Hospital complex south of Downtown. We worked with So Ill and the existing building owner to not only understand how the climbing gym could fit, but to also figure out how to insert an adjacent banquet hall and a two story roof top restaurants with a bar looking out over the top of the elite wall, all of which not only created a great facility, but made the project financially viable.

The result is truly one of a kind. Working with Bulgarian based climbing wall designer and fabricator, Walltopia, Bush and So Ill developed a design with vibrant walls contrasted against the rich patina of the carefully maintained existing structure. New elements, such as a series of balconies and stairs and a suite of custom casework and furniture, were designed to match this contrast of elements and to further embellish the unique scale and heights of the spaces.

Bush’s design team embedded themselves in the Climb So Ill team from the outset of the project and did everything they could to help David, Daniel and Ian realize their dream of creating one of the best indoor climbing experiences in the country. Starting with site selection, advising on their award winning business plan, working tirelessly to find the right mix of spaces and materials, and even donning climbing gear to adjust lights 60 foot in the air well into the night the day before opening, Bush became a part of the So Ill team and the success of our client.