FENTON, Mo. — A decision made ahead of the pandemic by St. Louis-based marketing giant Maritz to consolidate office space on its Fenton campus is paying off with the announcement that Panera Bread Co. will move its headquarters there next year from Sunset Hills.
Maritz renovated The 1400 Building at 1400 S. Highway Drive in the Fenton complex about three to four years ago with the intention of overhauling the building, built in 1981, into modern office space for its own employees. But company officials instead decided to consolidate employees into five other office buildings on the north side of Interstate 44, while leasing out The 1400 Building on the south side of the interstate to outside tenants. The two sections of the 78-acre campus are connected by a sky bridge over the interstate.
The 1400 Building will be about three-fourths leased with the arrival of national bakery-cafe chain Panera, scheduled for mid-2023 after its new headquarters office is renovated. Other tenants that have already moved into the building are Ricoh, 8th Avenue Food & Provisions, Safeco, LANDCO Construction and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
When the decision was made to lease out the building, Maritz officials thought other companies would be interested in the complex's renovated space, location and amenities, and the signing of another one of St. Louis' largest companies validates that view, said Mark Alspaw, vice president of real estate and property services for Maritz.
"Panera’s a great example of a St. Louis-based company that we think will be a great fit for that building. We're very excited," Alspaw said.
Fenton-based Maritz, once ranked as one of St. Louis' largest private companies with more than 2,000 employees based in Fenton, lost more than $1 billion in annual revenue and cut more than 600 jobs during the pandemic as corporate event planning ground to a halt. For the last year, the company has been rebuilding while hiring hundreds of employees.
Although Maritz made the decision about The 1400 Building ahead of its layoffs and the pandemic-driven decisions by major companies to cut back on office space, the reasons behind the decision were similar to those being made today, Alspaw said. A growing number of employees working from home even ahead of the pandemic meant that the company didn’t need as many office buildings.
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