The Beacon on Chestnut (stylized as THE BEACON on Chestnut, formerly One SBC Center, One Bell Center, One AT&T Center, and 909 Chestnut) is a 44-story building in downtown St. Louis, Missouri at 909 Chestnut Street on the Gateway Mall. It is Missouri's largest building by area with 1,400,000 square feet (130,000 m2).[5] The building is currently vacant.[6]
| 909 Chestnut | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Former names | One AT&T Center One Bell Center SBC Building Southwestern Bell Telephone Building |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Commercial offices |
| Location | 909 Chestnut Street St. Louis, Missouri |
| Coordinates | 38°37′40″N 90°11′41″W / 38.6277°N 90.1946°W / 38.6277; -90.1946 |
| Completed | 1986; 38 years ago (1986) |
| Cost | US$150 million |
| Owner | The Goldman Group |
| Height | |
| Roof | 179 m (587 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 44[1] |
| Floor area | 1,400,000 sq ft (130,000 m2) |
| Lifts/elevators | 24 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum |
| Main contractor | McCarthy Construction, St. Louis, MO |
| Other information | |
| Public transit access |  MCT MetroBus Red Blue At8th & Pine station |
| References | |
| [2][3][4] | |
The building was built to replace the Southwestern Bell Building as the Southwestern Bell world headquarters. However, in a series of mergers, the headquarters moved to San Antonio, Texas and was later renamed AT&T.
In 2006 Inland American Real Estate Trust bought the building for $205 million. AT&T then signed a 10-year lease to be the sole tenant.[7]
When AT&T announced, in 2013, that they would be vacating the building in 12 months and that they would be not be renewing the lease when it expired in 2017, the number of employees in that building had fallen from a high of 4,800 to 2,000 through layoffs, outsourcing and remote work.[8]
The building was ultimately foreclosed by US Bank after AT&T's departure and, on April 25, 2022, the building was sold for $4.05 million to SomeraRoad, a New York–based developer.[6] SomeraRoad later held an auction for the building in December 2023. It was sold an entity tied to the Boston-based Goldman Group for $3.6 million[9] in early April 2024. It is unclear what Goldman Group's plan is for the building at this time.[10]