Thompson Coburn stays downtown
Thompson Coburn LLP on Tuesday gave St. Louis the verdict it wanted.
The law firm agreed to keep its 595 jobs downtown instead of moving to Clayton in return for about $700,000 in tax abatements and incentives from the city.
Thompson Coburn will even get its name on U.S. Bank tower.
For the city, the retention of the high-profile law firm is a reaffirming win in a year where it suffered the loss of 850 jobs with the closing of Macy’s division headquarters and was jilted by Centene Corp.
The decision to stay downtown was a tough one for Thompson Coburn because it received a number of very competitive proposals over the last two years, Thompson Coburn chairman Tom Minogue said at a news conference. One of the locations the firm had considered was Brown Shoe Co.’s planned mixed-use development at 8300 Maryland Avenue in Clayton.
"We are confident that we made the right choice for us," he said. "We wanted to be where all our people wanted to be."
Although the city was successful in convincing Thompson Coburn to stay downtown, Armstrong Teasdale LLP, currently located at One Metropolitan Square, 211 North Broadway, is considering moving to Centene Corp’s planned headquarters building in Clayton.
A.J. Chivetta, a partner involved in the firm’s relocation efforts, could not be reached for comment.
The city is still feeling the sting of losing Centene back to Clayton. The medical plan administration firm in September announced that it was going to move its headquarters to downtown as part of the Ballpark Village development. But in July, the company pulled out of the deal after it, the city and the developers could not hammer out an agreement.
Clayton offered up to $22 million in tax incentives over 20 years to lure Centene back.
Thompson Coburn employs more lawyers than any other firm in St. Louis and generates $1.2 million a year in taxes for city services, Mayor Francis Slay said.
City officials have been aggressive in their attempts to keep jobs from leaving downtown — especially high-paying ones such as lawyers, who add to the city coffers by way of the 1 percent wage tax.
Keeping a firm of Thompson Coburn’s size downtown "is good for the city’s image and for our economy and our business," Slay said payday loans.
Thompson Coburn agreed to sign a 12-year lease at the U.S. Bank tower, located at Seventh Street and Washington Avenue. The firm will remodel its existing 240,000 square feet.
The $700,000 in incentives include abatements of personal property, construction material sales taxes and about $400,000 in forgivable loans and training funds, said Barbara Geisman, the deputy mayor for development.
As part of the agreement, U.S. Bank will donate its current 360-space garage to the Missouri Development Finance Board. An additional garage, which will contain another 360 parking spaces plus a floor of retail space, will be built in the plaza space in back of the building. The Missouri Development Finance Board will run both garages. The estimated $15 million in construction costs will be financed by revenue from both garages, Geisman said.
"This was a substantial gain for the city of St. Louis in the long run," said Robert Lewis, president of Economic Strategies, a St. Louis real estate and economic development consulting firm. By keeping Thompson Coburn with its large number of employees and high wages, the city can make up its costs within about two years, he estimated.
"It (the deal) helps a big firm with ample prestige located in a very important building stay in the city without hurting the city’s budget," he said."
"It’s not a huge amount of money," agreed Don Phares, professor emeritus of economics and public policy at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
More importantly, he said, is the city’s image.
"If they (Thompson Coburn) left, it would indicate that downtown St. Louis is no longer the place to do business," Phares said explaining such a decision could influence other firms to leave. "Keeping them there may be a sign to other firms that being in the city is a desirable place to be."
gappleson@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8331