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| St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones |
St. Louis, MO -- Community leaders and stakeholders gathered on Sept. 23 to celebrate the grand opening of Ameren Missouri’s new $20.7 million North Metro Operating Center, constructed through a joint venture partnership with general contractors PARIC Corporation and minority-owned KAI Build.
“We appreciate that Ameren Missouri is continuing to invest in this community by keeping an operating center on Geraldine Avenue,” said St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones.
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| Martin J. (Marty) Lyons Jr. |
“Reversing decades of disinvestment in
North St. Louis is a top priority for my administration, and I hope Ameren
Missouri is the first of many to invest in modern facilities and businesses
that serve North City residents.”
The new North Metro Operating Center,
located at 4440 Union Blvd., is built for up to 70 Ameren Missouri employees
and serves more than 135,000 customers in North St. Louis and surrounding
communities.
It replaces and expands the company’s Geraldine Operating Center,
which stood adjacent to the new facility and served the community for more than
60 years.
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| Keith Wolkoff |
This is one of many investments Ameren Missouri is making as part
of its Smart Energy Plan, a multi-year effort to strengthen the grid and bring
more resilient energy to Missouri.
“We had long outgrown the Geraldine
Operating Center, but it was important to us that Ameren Missouri remain in
North St. Louis,” said Ameren Missouri President Marty Lyons.
“With the expanded footprint of the
North Metro Operating Center, we can keep our crews close to the neighborhoods
they are serving, so we can respond safely and quickly to issues as we work to
keep energy reliable for our customers.”
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| Michael Kennedy, Jr. |
KAI Build and PARIC are proud to have
been a part of this transformative project for North St. Louis. This is
the eighth joint venture project between PARIC and KAI over the past 20 years.
“Ameren Missouri’s origin is that of
joining forces to produce a cohesive solution for its community. In that same
vein, PARIC Corporation and KAI Enterprises partnered to deliver the
North Metro Operating Center,” said Keith Wolkoff, PARIC president.
“The outcome of that collaboration is a
state-of-the-art facility that will not only help revitalize the North County
Region and provide reliable service but is a point of pride for all
involved.”
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Construction on the North Metro
Operating Center began in 2019 and provided hundreds of jobs for area workers,
while also utilizing the company’s network of diverse suppliers.
Ameren Missouri worked with 28 diverse
suppliers on the project and spent 38% of project funds with these vendors.
The new operating center includes:
·
19,600-square-foot office building for
administrative offices and crew areas
·
26,000-square-foot open truck shelter for 42
trucks
·
6,400-square-foot storage building
·
4,400-square-foot, three-sided trailer storage
building
“We just went through
COVID; we have a tremendous digital divide in our communities, especially on
the north side, and these kids had to connect to school and get access to power
to do school online.
"This is the type
of infrastructure and investment that we need in our communities to make sure
we can instill hope in these kids.”
CONTACT:
Jennifer Beidle
314-607-9459
jennifer@jbeidlepr.com
Photo
credit -- Tom Paule
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