World Wide Technologies Advanced Technology Center
(Photo courtesy of World Wide Technologies)

Edwardsville WWT expansion an historic deal

In what may represent the largest industrial real estate transaction in the history of the St. Louis region, Maryland Heights, Mo-based World Wide Technology (WWT), Inc., has announced development of a new, $115 million integration technology center in Edwardsville’s Gateway Commerce Center.

The technology center is to occupy more than 2 million square feet of industrial space in two buildings and ultimately create some 500 new jobs.

WWT’s present Edwardsville operations in the nearby Lakeview Commerce Center will be incorporated into the new Gateway Center facility.  There the company already employs some 1,500 workers in two buildings, totaling 1.6 million square feet.  The Lakeview Center facilities will be vacated after the new technology center opens.

The new integration technology center is to open in April 2019. Construction is scheduled to begin no later than this week.

Founded in 1990, World Wide Technology provides technology and supply chain services with a focus on the enterprise commercial, public and telecom service sectors.

The new technology center will house computer application development for customers and also serve as WWT’s North American distribution hub.

Earth City-based TriStar Properties is developing the new technology center buildings, assisted by local and state tax incentives, including tax increment financing, property tax abatement and an exemption from sales and equipment taxes.

World Wide Technology spokespersons say the new facility is designed to accommodate continuing rapid growth. The firm reported $10 billion in revenue last year, up from just $2.5 billion 10 years earlier.  It now has 4,600 workers 1,000 employees in 70 offices around the world, up from 1,000 a decade ago.

TriStar, which to date has developed approximately 3 million square feet of industrial space in the Gateway business park over the last several years.

World Wide Technology’s new lease in the Gateway Center is widely considered to be, at least, one of biggest industrial transaction in St. Louis history, according to CBRE Group, Inc., the Los Angeles-based commercial real estate brokerage that represented WWT in the deal.

Duke Realty and Panattoni Development Co., which own WWT’s present facilities in the Lakeview Center, have not announced plans for those buildings.

School sales tax goes down two-to-one

For the third time, Madison County voters, last week, turned down a one percent sales tax proposal for school building projects — this time by a two-to-one margin.  

Proponents said the County School Facility Sales Tax (CFST) would have provided an estimated $23 million in annual revenue to finance building construction and improvement projects for local school districts. However, county voters, during the March 20 primary, rejected the proposition on a vote of 27,523 to 14,966 or 65 percent to 35 percent.

A similar proposal failed with 80 percent disapproval in 2011.  In April of last year, a school sales tax proposition failed by 259 votes.

Organized opposition to the sales tax proposal came from the Madison County Citizens for Sustainable Education, which contended sales taxes in the area are already high and could have triggered increases in property taxes due to state bond issue requirements.

Wadlow Town Center proposals due March 31

Proposals for development of the City of Alton’s proposed Wadlow Town Center are now officially due this Saturday, March 31.  Aton officials are hoping to attract private development to a city-owned, 55-acre site, at the northeast intersection of Homer Adams Parkway (IL Rt. 3) and Golf Road, between the new Alton Regional Multimodal Transportation Center (RMTC) and one of Alton’s main commercial corridors.

City planners are seeking a “transit oriented” development that will complement the area’s new 9,000- square-foot  Amtrak station, adjacent mass transit terminal Madison County Transit buses, parking facilities and reserved greenspace with bicycle/pedestrian joint-use paths.

The site benefits from infrastructure improvements to Golf Road, Barons Commerce Parkway, and the construction of a new service road to access the 55-acre site; all undertaken in construction with the RMTC construction, city planners note.

Approximately 35 acres at the site are available for commercial development, according to the city’s request for proposals. The is site is zoned Mixed Use Transportation by the city.

The city issued a request for development proposals on Feb. 1 but received no submissions by an initial March 1 deadline.

For additional information contact

Mr. Greg Caffey, Alton Director of Development & Housing, at gcaffey@cityofaltonil.com

Welcome race fans to tiny houses

Its motto may be “Bigger, Better, Faster” in 2018, but Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison will for the first time offer race fans the opportunity to stay on site in tiny homes during its Bommarito Automotive Group 500 event for Indianapolis-type race cars, Aug. 23-26.

The track’s new Try It Tiny Village will offer out-of-towners (or hard-core local race fans) the option to stay in a fully-functional house — albeit a small one — on the track grounds during the race weekend; as an alternative to RVs, staying at a motel or camping out.

The new temporary onsite lodging project — the first of its type in the St. Louis area — is latest manifestation of the national tiny house movement, which advocates living simply in small homes. While there is no widely accepted, formal definition of a tiny house; they are generally considered to be residential structures under 500 square feet.

However, the new tiny house accommodations at Gateway will not really be all that small or simple, track managers say.

The 20 units in the infield of the Gateway oval track, between turns three and four, will offer race fans a “high-end experience” with all the amenities of a traditional home, according to track statement.  

Each uniquely designed unit will offer a full bathroom, kitchen and even a concierge service. Two of the units will accommodate two; the other 18 units will sleep up to four people. Rental for two-person units will start at $1,500 each; with rent for the four-person units ranging from $1,750 to $2,250.

The Gateway tiny house accommodations as being offered through a joint project with Zionsville, Ind.-based Try It Tiny, Inc., which offers a kind of Airbnb service for tiny dwellings. The two-year old start-up firm will offer similar accommodations at next month’s NASCAR race at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee and later this spring at the Indianapolis 500.

–Metro East News Briefs–