ST. LOUIS (November 8, 2022) – Tarlton Corp. won top honors at the 2022 Construction Keystone Awards Gala from the Associated General Contractors of Missouri for the $50 million historic core and shell renovation of 900 N. Tucker Blvd., for StarWood Group LLC.
Tarlton won in the $20 Million or More General Contractor/Construction Manager/Prime Contractor Building Construction category. The firm transformed the six-story building – which was home for decades to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and St. Louis Post-Dispatch daily newspapers – by incorporating vestiges from publishing history into welcoming spaces for technology-driven businesses.
A Venerable Building Reimagined for St. Louis’ Newest Innovation District
The project encompassed a 305,000-square-foot core and shell historic renovation in the NOW Innovation District – an area poised to transform the downtown St. Louis area and Washington Avenue historic corridor into a hub for software technology firms and startups. Tarlton also completed a 226,000-square-foot tenant fit-out for financial services and digital payments firm Block, Inc.
Significant structural changes were required to renovate and rebrand the 1930s buff-colored, Art Deco-detailed masonry building for the digital age. As envisioned by project architect Trivers, a new main entrance was created on the north side of the building. The new entrance’s signature façade welcomes employees, visitors and guests into a two-story atrium and modern lobby. To create the footprint for the new entrance, the Tarlton team performed demolition on the windowless, concrete-block and brick addition that had been added to the building in the 1940s.
All new building systems were installed, and the roof was opened (and outfitted with solar power) to accommodate a stunning multilevel skylit atrium design. The construction team cut large holes into two levels of existing floors below to direct natural light into the former traditional office areas. In addition, Tarlton employed creative solutions to relocate and hoist the building’s new structural steel stair segments and ornamental railings into place – accomplished without the use of an overhead crane in the tight interior space.
In a nod to the building’s illustrious media legacy, and in keeping with the architects’ adaptive reuse of the building’s existing industrial elements, the towering two-story printing presses and mainframes were cleaned and kept in place. They stretch 80 feet along the ground floor and soar into the first floor above. Machine parts also were reused as décor in common areas of the building. CannonDesign served as architect for the tenant fit-out.
The Tarlton project team included Sondra Rotty, project executive; Andrew Nelch, project director; Josh Narup, project manager; Travis Aly, project manager; Greg Sweeso, manager of preconstruction and estimating; John Gasperoni, Blake Bertels and Patrick Murphy, project superintendents; and Joe Carr, project accountant.
“It is an honor to be recognized by the AGC of Missouri for our scope of work on this complex project, which consisted of deconstruction, reconstruction and new construction, all occurring simultaneously,” said Tracy Hart, Tarlton president. “The skill, teamwork and spirit of the Tarlton team represent top innovation and quality construction in St. Louis.”