Duke Realty Corporation (Duke) announced that the remaining 8.5 acre parcel of land in its Lakeside Crossing Business Park will be the site of another new 116,000-square foot, built-to-suit office building for Monsanto. With the development of this land, the 100 acres that Duke acquired produced 14 building projects over the past eight years.
Located in the West Port submarket of St. Louis, Lakeside Crossing Business Park sits on land that previously was a neglected area of the city with older businesses and industrial properties. Duke has invested more than $55 million and developed 916,551 square feet of new Class A office, service center, and warehouse space in Lakeside Crossing Business Park, attracting several notable tenants, including State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, Johnson Controls, Shaughnessy, KPLR-Channel ll, TALX, and Parents as Teachers.
This past summer, Monsanto moved into Lakeside Crossing Office One, a 127,778-square foot building, leaving one undeveloped site open. Monsanto subsequently asked Duke to develop another building for them on the remaining parcel in the park, which is adjacent to Lakeside Crossing Office One. The new building, Lakeside Crossing Two, will be a sister building to the one presently occupied by Monsanto.
“We are very pleased that we have been able to provide a real estate solution for such a dynamic company as Monsanto and bring Lakeside Crossing Business Park to completion,” said Toby Martin, Senior Vice President of Duke’s St. Louis operations. “Monsanto, like many other companies, was attracted by the accessibility of the park, as well as the nearby amenities in this vital submarket.”
“We are delighted that Monsanto will be expanding its space in Maryland Heights and we look forward to working with them and Duke to complete this new facility as expeditiously as possible,” said City of Maryland Heights Mayor Mike Moeller. “When the City selected Duke eight years ago to redevelop the area known as the South Heights, we were confident that they would develop a first-rate business park. Lakeside Crossing is now a very successful development and, with the announcement of this new building, will soon have nearly one million square feet of quality commercial space and more than 2,500 quality jobs. I can think of no better example of a successful public-private partnership in the State of Missouri.”
Ground will be broken on Lakeside Crossing Two the first week of November, and the building is expected to be completed and occupied by December 2009. Whitaker Varley, Duke’s Vice President of Leasing, represented Duke Realty Corporation.