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OPUS to Develop Office Building at Jefferson and Chouteau

Updated: Nov 15, 2019


The large mixed-use project on the former Praxair site, and other adjacent parcels near Jefferson and Chouteau, is continuing to move through the planning process. The Lafayette Reserve houses and 2300 LaSalle were fully approved by the City earlier this Fall. Both of these projects make up a portion of a large project named "Lafayette Square North". The development was originally unveiled in March 2018 and will be developed by Bill Odell, Hamilton Hospitality, Universatile Development, and Tom Graddy. The latest plans call for the OPUS Group to be added in the mix.


Being actively marketed as "1000 Jefferson", the 150,000SF Class-A office building will have a brick, stone, and glass design and will be built up to the corner of Jefferson and Chouteau. The plans also allow for a tenant to put signage on the roofline, which will be visible from Interstate 64.


1000 Jefferson will feature street level windows, but no retail space according to floor plans. Instead, the first floor will be office and amenity space. Retail and restaurants will be situated on the first floor of the nearby apartment and hotel buildings.

Plans also call for a rooftop amenity deck, fitness center, yoga room, and a club room for tenants of the building.


At this point, the desire is to break ground on 1000 Jefferson next year. This is all dependent on if they can secure a tenant for the building whether it be the entire thing or 60%. The Lafayette Reserves homes and 2300 LaSalle should start before Christmas. A 127 unit apartment building along Chouteau will start inn the Spring. The remaining buildings, a hotel and more apartments, will start at some point after that.


OPUS is acting as the developer, architect, and builder on the project. The company has developed, or is developing, Soulard Business Park, the Bunge HQ in Chesterfield, Citizen Park in the Central West End, Ceylon in Clayton, and the Park East Tower. OPUS has an office in Clayton at Carondelet and Hanley.

Since the initial vision was unveiled in March 2018, the plans have remained relatively the same in terms of usages. However, some residents of Lafayette Square, and urbanists in general, have pointed out that overall building height and density has been reduced. In addition to this, some are raising issue with the now exposed parking gaarge. The initial plans called for the garages to be hidden but now a large garage replaces what would've been another building. They also raise issue with the surface parking lot along Jefferson and LaSalle.


Despite these issues, most of these people are supportive of the development and are quite excited. They all agree that ridding the neighborhood of overgrown lots and empty industrial buildings is a huge plus. After all, this is a section of Lafayette Square that quite a few people enter from. Still, a few are not in support and it comes down to the parking garage and surface parking lot being present.

The March 2017 massing that shows the initial vision for the development.

1000 Jefferson joins a flurry of new office construction in the City that totals out to be over 1,000,000SF of new office space. There are more office projects in the works, so what's featured below is public.

  • The PwC Pennant Building: 120,000SF - Completed

  • 4210 Duncan: 314,000SF - Under Construction

  • Cortex K: 120,000SF+ - Proposed

  • The Armory: 194,000SF - Under Construction

  • Iron Hill Offices: 150,000SF+ - Proposed

  • 1000 Jefferson: 150,000SF - Proposed

TOTAL: 1,048,000SF+


The overall Lafayette Square North development, which has an estimated cost of $160 Million, joins a series of "mega projects" along the Chouteau Corridor from 22nd to Spring. Projects along this route include Iron Hill, Steelcote Square, and this project. Others, which will connect this area to Broadway, are also planned.

Rendering from June 2019 showing the development at build out. The office and garage portion has since changed and the overall scope of the project has shrunk but retained many of the original features.

Below is a marketing video for 1000 Jefferson.

Also included are renderings of 2300 LaSalle and the Lafaytte Reserve houses. For more information on the houses, please visit LafayetteReserve.com


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