Shared space in Chesterfield a win-win

Two West St. Louis County companies are relocating to the same Chesterfield office space, joining forces to provide complementary financial services.

The America Group, a financial advisory company, and Chas. W. DeWitt Insurance Agency, a business and personal insurance solutions provider, will be moving to 390 S. Woods Mill Road, according to JLL, who represented the firms on their search for new office space.

The companies will move into the shared 12,000-SF office in August, after renovations are complete. The companies’ goal is to create a hub of financial planning and insurance experts — a one-stop shop where clients can find answers in all areas of financial support and planning.

Advisors with the firms offer financial planning, tax planning, business and personal insurance, employee benefits and health/Medicare insurance, allowing clients to align their financial decisions in those areas and avoiding conflicts or gaps in coverage.

“The benefits of shared office space can be quite valuable, particularly for companies working in the same or complementary industries,” said David Steinbach, managing director of JLL St. Louis. “For DeWitt and The America Group, they will benefit from shared expenses and more efficient communication, but even more importantly their clients will benefit from having these services aligned in one central location.”

Chas. W. DeWitt Insurance Agency was founded in 1925 and is currently located in Ballwin, Mo. DeWitt started its business relationship with The America Group in 2011 when Ross Pfeifer, DeWitt’s vice president, began offering financial planning services to clients of DeWitt through The America Group.

In January 2021, Pfeifer, Aaron Stewart and Jeff Seeburger became co-owners of The America Group. Seeburger, who now serves as president, admires the numerous advantages of the new space —including its size, location and their ability to integrate services to clients.

“The workspaces and office layout as well as the kitchen are Class A space,” Seeburger said. “We stepped into a practically turnkey, Class-A situation thanks to JLL.”

Soulard Commerce Center bridges e-commerce, consumer gap

Soulard Commerce Center, a Class A warehouse building located in the 35-acre Soulard Business Park, is complete and available for leasing, according to JLL.

Developed by The Opus Group, the 154,937-SF spec warehouse is the first modern industrial building in the area since 2004. The building can accommodate final-mile destination warehouse and delivery, light manufacturing or general office/warehouse uses.

“This area of the city, and for that matter points further south in the city and county, are the most supply constrained in our market when it comes to modern industrial building product. It is a swath of the market with significant barriers to developing at scale, and The Opus Group has achieved that in Soulard Commerce Center. In the process, they’ve created a unique alternative for industrial occupiers who previously had to consider locations further away from their customer and employee bases,” said Pat Reilly, executive vice president of industrial leasing for JLL.

Soulard Commerce Center is designed for multiple tenants with individual build-to-suit spaces starting at about 22,000 SF. It features 32-foot, clear-height ceilings and 24 trailer parking stalls to suit a variety of uses, including e-commerce and urban logistics.

With easy access to Interstates 44, 55, 70 and 64, the building location can meet the distribution needs of modern final-mile networks, which have become more important with the explosive growth of e-commerce.

“The recent boom in e-commerce has created an increased demand for modern industrial space,” said Ryan Carlie, director of real estate development at Opus. “Soulard Commerce Center provides tenants a diverse space that can accommodate a variety of needs within a convenient and desirable location.”

The building benefits from 25-year real estate tax abatement. Base rent for the building is $6.50 per square foot.

Midwest warehouse demand continues to rise

Booming interest in industrial space continues to fill St. Louis industrial parks and warehouses, according to commercial real estate firm JLL.

With a flurry of new leases signed in the last quarter, the brokerage firm says last year’s figures have met the record of 4.1 million square feet of absorption previously set in 2019. According to JLL’s 2021 Midwest Industrial Outlook, the Midwest markets are seeing unprecedented growth and will need 275 million square feet of new warehouse space in the next five years to accommodate surging demand.

“Had you asked in March what the outlook for industrial real estate would be for 2020, the answer would not have been where we are today,” said David Branding, managing director for JLL’s St. Louis industrial markets team.

“The activity, especially in last quarter, helped achieve another record year of absorption. We fully expect to see the same momentum and even an increase in demand going into this year and likely well beyond,” Branding said.

JLL’s report indicates that St. Louis experienced a 79 percent increase in bulk inventory since 2016 after having virtually no new construction from 2009 to 2015. In 2020, e-commerce accounted for more than 40 percent of the leasing activity. The majority of new warehouse construction continues to be in North County, St. Charles and the Metro East.

Last quarter, JLL represented tenants and developers in more than 670,000 square feet in new lease agreements. Altus Properties signed a 135,400-square-foot lease at its Corporate 44 Business Park in Fenton, Mo. Building 4 at the park is now fully leased with the expansion of current park tenant Re-Sort Solutions, a specialty packaging and warehouse company.

Cambridge Engineering, a Chesterfield Valley company, signed a lease for 68,605 SF within the Wentzville Distribution Center, owned by SparrowHawk Development. This lease brings occupancy in the building to 100%.

Agile Packaging Solutions, a specialty packaging company serving customers in St. Louis, leased 241,448 SF at Park 370 Center 1 in Hazelwood, Mo., bringing the building to 100% occupancy.

JLL also represented St. Louis Business Center on two recent lease agreements within the center, located in the North City submarket. Werner Enterprises and American Trailer Rental Group have both leased trailer yards within the park. The leases are part of a larger trend of facilities catering to increased commercial truck and trailer traffic related to e-commerce, both in and around the St. Louis market and on cross-country routes. This is American Trailer’s first St. Louis location.

Top tenant expansions in the St. Louis market include Amazon, World Wide Technology, Geodis, Reckitt Benckiser and Save A Lot. The companies signed 18 new leases totaling more than 8.7 million SF. The area’s top developers, including NorthPoint, TriStar, Pannattoni, Duke Realty and CRG, brought more the 15 million SF of new warehouse space to market in 2020.

“With an expected $900 billion increase in e-commerce sales expected in the next five years, St. Louis is poised to gain significant investment and growth among major institutional players, some who have already begun recognizing the market, and others who undoubtedly are now starting to take notice,” said Branding.