The St. Louis Cardinals and The Cordish Companies Celebrate Major Construction Milestone of $260 Million Expansion of Ballpark Village with Topping Out of Class-A Office Tower

ST. LOUIS, April 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The St. Louis Cardinals and The Cordish Companies celebrated a major construction milestone of the $260 million expansion of Ballpark Village with a traditional Topping Out Ceremony of the Class-A Office Tower – The PwC Pennant Building – to mark the completion of the exterior structure of the building. Anchored by PwC, one of the largest and most prestigious professional services firms in the world and longtime major employer in downtown St. Louis, The PwC Pennant Building will open this summer as the first new construction office building built in downtown St. Louis in more than a generation. The 11-story tower is part of a dynamic plan by the Cardinals and Cordish to transform Ballpark Village into a vibrant 24/7 neighborhood for downtown St. Louis.

"All winter long we've watched this project rise from the ground," said Bill DeWitt III, President of the St. Louis Cardinals. "Giving the Class-A Office Tower an official name – The PwC Pennant Building – and celebrating with a Topping Out Ceremony is a meaningful way to mark this construction milestone."

"It is extremely exciting for The Cordish Companies to join our partners, the Cardinals, in celebrating this major construction milestone for the expansion of Ballpark Village and recognize the hard work and skill of our construction partners, PARIC Corporation," said Nick Benjamin, Vice President of Development for The Cordish Companies. "Today's Topping Out celebration continues the momentum of the second phase of Ballpark Village which will begin opening this year with The PwC Pennant Building." 

Located at the corner of Walnut and 8^th Streets, The PwC Pennant Building will anchor the west end of Cardinal Way, the new street that will emerge through the new neighborhood from 8^th Street to Broadway. The office tower, designed jointly by HKS Architects, Hord Coplan Macht (HCM) and Tao & Lee and constructed by PARIC Corporation, will feature street level retail, modern office amenities and more than 460 structured parking spaces. In addition, PwC will have a private rooftop deck providing incredible views of Busch Stadium, downtown St. Louis and the Gateway Arch.

"We are very excited to be part of Ballpark Village and look forward to the continuing development of downtown St. Louis," said John Tvrdik, Managing Partner of PwC – St. Louis Office. "Ballpark Village will offer an incredible location and great amenities for our team members in the heart of this exciting new neighborhood." 

The Cardinals and The Cordish Companies also announced today that Clayton-based investment banking firm, ButcherJoseph & Co, will be moving their offices downtown, joining PwC as a new tenant of The PwC Pennant Building. ButcherJoseph & Co will occupy more than 8,000 square feet within the building.

"I am thrilled to be here to celebrate this milestone in the construction of the newest downtown Class-A office building," said Lyda Krewson, Mayor of St. Louis, Mo. "It is wonderful to see the progress that is being made as this development truly becomes a village and a great day for the City of St. Louis to welcome a new company downtown."

A COMMITTMENT TO DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

The Cardinals and The Cordish Companies are proud to continue their commitment for the expansion of Ballpark Village to serve as a model project for diversity and inclusion for the City of St. Louis.  In partnership with PARIC Corporation, maximum opportunities for minority and women-owned firms have been able to participate in all aspects of the second phase project. As it relates to contracts for minority and women-owned businesses, out of $169 million dollars of total contract work to date, 32.3% are being completed by minority-owned businesses, exceeding the goal of 25% participation and equating to $42.2 million dollars in contracts. Out of the same $169 million dollars of total contracts, 7.8% are being completed by women-owned businesses, exceeding the goal of 5% participation. This equates to $13.2 million dollars in contracts to women-owned businesses.

With regard to workforce inclusion, over 60,000 hours have been completed by minority workforce participation, over 10,000 hours of female workforce participation, over 30,000 hours from City residents and over 40,000 hours have been performed by apprentices. These numbers will continue to grow as additional scopes of work are added to these projects.

The PwC Pennant Building is part of the $260 million expansion of Ballpark Village in partnership between the Cardinals and The Cordish Companies. The 700,000 square foot mixed-use second phase project, currently under construction adjacent to Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis, features new buildings on both the east and west sides of the existing Phase 1 Ballpark Village development. Opening this winter, a three-story retail pavilion just north of the existing Busch II Infield and Event Plaza, a spectacular glass pavilion that will be anchored by the 31,000 square foot Onelife Fitness, a nationally recognized, state-of-the-art health and fitness club. On the west end of the expansion south of The PwC Pennant Building, an upscale Live! By Loews hotel will also open in the first quarter of next year, and on the east end, a 29-story luxury residential tower called One Cardinal Way will open Summer 2020. Once complete, the second phase expansion will complete a full build-out of Clark Street, transforming it into one of the most exciting streets in all of professional sports. 

The first phase of Ballpark Village has played a pivotal role in the revitalization of downtown since opening in 2014, creating more than 1,000 construction jobs and 1,700 new permanent jobs when it opened. The second phase of Ballpark Village stands to create 1,500 construction jobs and more than 1,000 new permanent jobs.

The construction of Ballpark Village's expansion represents the next step in the Cardinals' vision for downtown St. Louis that began with the opening of the new $411 million privately-financed Busch Stadium in 2006.  Located on 10-acres north of Busch Stadium, Ballpark Village is the first master-planned development designed around a new Major League Ballpark. The dining and entertainment district has welcomed over 20 million guests in its first four years.

For more information on The PwC Pennant Building, please visit www.pwcpennantbuilding.com.

About the St. Louis Cardinals
For more than a century, Cardinals baseball has been a source of excite­ment and civic pride. With 11 World Series Championships, 19 National League Pennants and a rich history of winning baseball by the storied franchise, St. Louisans bleed Cardinal Red. Since the ownership group led by Bill DeWitt Jr. purchased the Car­dinals from Anheuser-Busch in 1996, the Cardinals have posted the fourth best record in the majors and advanced to the postseason 13 times, including two World Series Championships and four National League Pennants. Each year, the Cardinals are among the top teams in MLB in terms of attendance and local TV ratings. Forty-eight former Cardinals players, managers and executives are enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. In 2018, the Cardinals drew more than 3.4 million fans to Busch Stadium. The team's home market fan base spans a 10-state region, drawing a large number of visitors to St. Louis annually, pumping millions of dollars into the local economy and helping local businesses.

About The Cordish Companies
The Cordish Companies' origins date back to 1910 and encompass four generations of privately-held, family ownership. During the past ten decades, The Cordish Companies has grown into a global leader in Commercial Real Estate; Coworking Spaces; Entertainment Districts; Gaming; Hotels; International Development; Private Equity; Residential; Restaurants; and Sports-Anchored Developments. One of the largest and most respected developers in the world, The Cordish Companies has been awarded an unprecedented seven Urban Land Institute Awards for Excellence for public-private developments that are of unique significance to the cities in which they are located. Prime examples are The Cordish Companies' prominent role in the redevelopment of Baltimore's world famous Inner Harbor; Philadelphia, PA; Atlantic City, NJ; Charleston, SC; Houston, TX; Louisville, KY; Kansas City, MO and St. Louis, MO. In addition, The Cordish Companies has developed and operates multiple highly acclaimed entertainment destinations throughout the United States which welcome over 50 million visitors per year and are the most visited destinations in their respective regions. Over the generations, The Cordish Companies has remained true to the family's core values of quality, entrepreneurial spirit, long-term personal relationships and integrity. As a testimony to the long-term vision of its family leadership, The Cordish Companies still owns and manages virtually every business it has created. For more information visit www.cordish.com or follow us on Twitter.

"The Cordish Companies," "The Cordish Company" and "Cordish" are trademarks used under license by independent corporations, legal liability companies and partnerships ("Cordish Entities"). Each Cordish Entity is a separate, single-purpose legal entity that is solely responsible for its obligations and liabilities. No common operations or financial interdependency, and no intermingling of assets or liabilities of the Cordish Entities exists, or should be deemed to exist, as a result of the potential common reference to multiple independent entities operating under the names "Cordish," "The Cordish Companies" or "The Cordish Company" here or elsewhere.

SOURCE The Cordish Companies

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