Don't Miss
Home   >   News   >   Bank to Replace Flood-Damaged U City HQ With New $2M Building

Bank to Replace Flood-Damaged U City HQ With New $2M Building

Posted on 01/31/2023

From St. Louis Business Journal:  The historic rainfall in July 2022 that triggered flooding in the St. Louis area led to damage to the headquarters of Royal Banks of Missouri in University City.

But rather than repairing the damaged building, which is also the bank’s headquarters, Royal Banks plans to demolish the structure and replace it with a new $2 million headquarters on the nearly two-acre Olive Boulevard site.

“I’d rather invest the money in a new building versus fixing a 60-year-old building,” said Mitch Baden, CEO and president of Royal Banks.

But before it can start construction, the bank has to wait for St. Louis County to accept a new federal floodplain map that excludes the property from the floodplain. In the interim, the bank plans to install a two-piece modular building onsite, a plan approved this week by the city council.

Royal Banks will spend about $250,000 to lease the one-story modular building from Rose Office Systems, based in Calera, Alabama. It’s expected to arrive within two and a half months, Baden said.

“It will come in two pieces and they will build it. It has offices. It has a teller line in it. It has a vault,” he said.

The bank has an option to buy the modular building, which could be used while another branch is built in the St. Louis area, Baden said.

Once the modular building is in place, the existing headquarters, at 8021 Olive Blvd., will be demolished.

The damage to the structure wasn’t caused by the overflowing River Des Peres, but from a backed up sewer pipe that feeds the river, which resulted in the building taking on three feet of stormwater and wastewater, Baden said.

“We installed a trap to prevent that from happening and unfortunately there was such heavy pressure that it sprung the trap,” he said.

The bank has flood insurance for the headquarters, but couldn’t make a claim to the insurer because the damage was caused by the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District system and not the River Des Peres jumping its banks, said Baden. He said the building suffered about $100,000 in damage. A spokesperson for MSD did not immediately return a request for comment.

Read more.

 

Translate »