Grand Opening Announcement: Davenport, Iowa-based Von Maur Department Stores will build its first store in Missouri at Davis Street Land Company's "The Meadows at Lake Saint Louis" lifestyle center in Lake Saint Louis, Missouri. The national retailer, founded in 1872, is one of the oldest and most successful department store chains in the country. The Meadows, scheduled to open in August 2008, is being developed on a 64-acre site at Lake Saint Louis Boulevard and Interstate 64 (I-64). It already has Phase I leasing commitments from many of the country's leading lifestyle retailers including Banana Republic, Coldwater Creek, Chico's, and Talbot's.

Andrews Academy is working with M+H on the first phase of a new school consisting of an approximate 40,000sf two story educational building for kindergarten through fifth grades and a 6,000sf bid alternate for 4 additional classrooms.The building will provide for expansion capabilities for a subsequent phase II (expansion of existing grades) and phase III consisting of expansion for seventh through eighth grades with a gymnasium.

A new Catholic High School for the Diocese of Jefferson City, MO, this is a joint project with Peckham & Wright Architects of Columbia, MO. This is a multi-phased project that provides the flexibility necessary when beginning a new high school in a quickly developing area. Phase I includes the sitework along with 84,000sf of building which incorporates 14,000sf of shell building ready for immediate expansion.

Ursuline Academy is embarking on the second phase of its master planning process with M+H. Programming and conceptual design services for this phase include the Performing Arts Center along with the Educational Commons. This is a challenging and rewarding process for Ursuline as they continue to develop and enhance their established campus.

For more information on the school visit the Ursuline website 

M+H is working with Trammell Crow to create a 500,000 square foot office building in the Kansas City Intermodal Business Center adjacent to the Kansas City International Airport. The second phase of the project expands the size of the project to just under a million square foot.

De Smet Jesuit High School is moving forward with the next phase of the campus improvement master plan. This phase focuses on the Pierre La Barge Football Stadium and the baseball facilities. The improvements to the stadium include enlarging the size of the infield of the football field to accommodate a regulation size soccer field and resurfacing with synthetic turf, a new press box, an alumni/student activities pavilion, the addition of two lanes on the track, and the resurfacing of the track with the synthetic material that has been used on all of the Olympic tracks since 1972. The improvements to the baseball field include a new masonry press box, new masonry dugouts with metal roofs, a new masonry backstop with the De Smet logo, new bullpens, a new batting cage, a new larger grandstand, and an alumni/student pavilion.

For more information visit DeSmet's website

M+H Architects, working with mission critical facilities expert, Ascent Corp. and the developer, Koman Group, are currently completing a more than $500 million, 550,000-square-foot data center for Microsoft, located in Northlake, Illinois, outside of Chicago. Construction began in September on Northlake Data Center, the most powerful data center development in Chicago and one of the most powerful data center developments in the U.S. The Chicago facility will sprawl over more than 12 acres located in direct proximity to a city water pumping station, significant fiber optic bandwidth along adjacent Interstate and rail lines, and its own on-site electric substation. With 40MW(2N) or 80MW(gross) of power available, and readily expandable to 60MW (2N) or 120MW (gross), Northlake will support thousands of computer servers that process internet activity and network services for Microsoft. The center will probably employ no more than 75 people to operate the servers.

The project, part of a newly created warehouse district that includes three buildings, contains a 1.35-million-sq-ft warehouse facility in Jamesburg, N.J., which was designed to be occupied by two tenants. The building contains two identical 675,600-sq-ft bulk distribution centers, each with its own main entrance. The building’s interior features include bar joist for a 36-ft clear height and 50 x 50 ft column spacing. Precast load bearing concrete wall panels clad the building because they offered cost, durability, and speed benefits. Erection of the panels took only 30 days. The precast concrete walls were finished with reveals cast into the panels, and they were painted on site after erection.

Maryland Heights First Park is a premier Master-Planned Business Park located in vibrant Maryland Heights in the Howard Bend Planning Area, Planning District #3 Expressway. It is located at the intersection of Maryland Heights Expressway and Sportport Road, and encompasses approximately 122 acres. This master-planned development will include three product types; Office Campus, Office Flex and Office Distribution. The Office Campus buildings are sited along the entrance (Sportport Road) which helps create a "Gateway" to the park. The site plan then promotes a gradation of product type the further you travel into the park. The Office Flex is positioned along the Expressway and along Sportport Road, and the Office Distribution is behind the Office Flex.

Cor Jesu Academy is at a defining moment for their campus with the acquisition of an additional 15 acres of land. M+H is working with them to develop a comprehensive plan that will define the vision of Cor Jesu Academy, for now and generations to come. The process involves collaboration with the community of Cor Jesu Academy’s administration and faculty along with neighboring developments.

For more information on the acquisition visit Cor Jesu's website 

Callaway Electric Cooperative is a member-owned electric cooperative which serves approximately 14,000 meters and over 2,100 miles of electric distribution lines. M+H has completed the master plan for 128 acres that will include the new corporate headquarters and operations center located on approximately 30 acres of the 128. The land is being developed by Callaway Electric Cooperative as an industrial park at the junction of US Highway 54 and State Road H, in Fulton, Missouri. The new facility will include approximately 80,000sf of office, a community room, warehouse, vehicle bays, and storage, along with the material and equipment yard. Occupancy of the building is scheduled for October of 2009.