UIC, the design firm and developer remaking the Botanical Heights area of St. Louis, plans to move its headquarters from one side of the neighborhood to the other.
The company will relocate from its office in a renovated stable on Tower Grove Avenue to the top floor of an 1890s Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. building at 4140 Park Avenue.
Brent Crittenden, UIC's chief executive, said Wednesday he plans to complete the purchase of the four-story building in October and move the company offices by next summer.
Included in the project is UIC's plan to redo the entire building for small firms that are outgrowing business incubators or co-working space.
Crittenden said he wants to stay in the neighborhood he has helped revive with contemporary housing and commercial projects, including the Olio restaurant in a former gas station. He said he reached a deal for the Liggett & Myers building after someone else's contract on the vacant structure fell through.
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"We were kind of in the right place at the right time to buy," Crittenden said.
He said UIC will occupy about half of the top floor. Planned amenties for what could become a $6 million project include a shared roof deck, a lounge, conference center and fitness facility. UIC first announced the project on its page.
Slam!, a marketing firm on Tower Grove Avenue, will expand into UIC's current office, Crittenden said.
UIC's relocation announcement on Facebook includes an image of the Liggett & Myers building with a helicopter hovering overhead.
"That's my communication director having a good time," Crittenden said. "But, no, we don't have a helicopter yet."