The St. Louis Cardinals and the Cordish Cos. opened the PwC Pennant Building on Wednesday, the first completed project in the $260 million second phase of Ballpark Village.
Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said finishing the office building is an exciting step forward.
“I’ve just been one of those kids like on Christmas morning recently. I just get excited to come down here and look at the progress every day,” DeWitt said.
The 11-story office tower is named for its anchor tenant, PricewaterhouseCoopers. It’s the first Class A office building to open in downtown St. Louis since the Metropolitan Square opened in 1989. The building sits at 8th and Walnut streets, about a five-minute walk from Busch Stadium.
Along with PricewaterhouseCoopers, ButcherJoseph & Co. investment bankers has moved into the new offices. FOX Sports Midwest announced plans to move in this spring. Keith Butcher, managing partner at ButcherJoseph & Co., said the firm relocated because it outgrew its offices in Clayton and wanted to be part of the new developments downtown.
“We moved here because of the DeWitt family,” Butcher said. “We trust them, we know them as a firm, and we know that they do exceptional things for this city. They're pretty darn good at baseball teams, and we knew they're going to be pretty darn good at building out this entire process.”
The $100 million first phase of Ballpark Village was completed in 2014 and added entertainment venues and restaurants across from Busch Stadium. The second phase began in December 2017 and is expected to be completed next year.
Much of the new retail, entertainment, restaurant and living space is still under construction. Nick Benjamin, vice president of the Cordish Cos., spoke over the sounds of nearby backhoes at Wednesday’s ceremony.
“Today's ribbon-cutting is the start of opening season for Ballpark Village phase two,” Benjamin said. “After thousands and thousands of hours working on a project like this, it's really gratifying to be able to walk through the front doors and to see the building alive with downtown office workers.”
Benjamin said more than 90% of the second phase's retail space has been leased.
Businesses coming to Ballpark Village include Onelife Fitness, Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse and Baseballism.
More tenants will be announced throughout the fall, Benjamin said.
Follow Andrea Smith on Twitter: @andr3afaith
Send questions and comments about this story to feedback@stlpublicradio.org
