The New Year’s Eve confetti has cleared and project deadlines are in full swing. With one month of the decade officially underway, we are looking back at some of our favorite moments from the year that got us here.
We kicked off 2019 with an exciting first quarter goal: launch our new website and brand refresh. Lawrence Group has grown quite a bit since its founding in 1983 and this refresh was designed to reflect that journey.
Our 2019 brand refresh set the tone for a year of celebration.
This past year, all three Lawrence Group offices came together to celebrate under the Circus Flora Big Top in St. Louis. The day was a celebration of the people and projects of Lawrence Group with circus-themed games, food and a presentation from keynote speaker Robert Mark Morgan about The Power of Play.
In August, we celebrated Paul Doerner, one of Lawrence Group’s three original co-founders, as he announced his retirement. Paul helped lead the firm from a small boutique architecture firm to the 160-person multidisciplinary company Lawrence Group is today. His focus on client service, unique sense of humor and personality helped shape Lawrence Group’s culture.
Also over the summer, our New York office relocated and renovated a new loft space in the Garment District. Lawrence Group New York now calls 275 W 39th Street home and continues to serve clients on both a local and national scale.
The year 2019 also marked Lawrence Group’s Austin office’s 20th year in business. Founded in 1999 by Principal I. Earl Swisher, the firm’s Austin office has provided award-winning design to municipal and higher education clients throughout Central Texas. In September, the office hosted a higher education summit, gathering top-level leaders from Texas institutions and consultant firms in Austin.
In 2019, we received national and local recognition.
Below are a few of those highlights:
3DEN
3DEN was featured in Boutique Design Magazine. The new space is a new wellness-meets-coworking concept in New York’s Hudson Yards that will likely influence hospitality trends well beyond 2019.
In other hospitality news, the colorful Angad Arts Hotel continued to draw national attention from travelers across the country, placing 4th in USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Travel Awards for Best New Hotel. The boutique hotel also took home two IIDA Gateway Chapter awards including the Restaurant/Hospitality category as well as the top prize, Best in Show.
In addition to design, the Landmarks Association of St. Louis selected Angad Arts Hotel and The Core Apartment Residences as winners of the 2019 Most Enhanced Awards for Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation. These two projects were among a dozen or so historic renovations recognized by the Landmarks Association, all demonstrating the St. Louis design community’s shared passion and investment in the city.
Our construction team also celebrated alongside our clients from Grand Tavern by David Burke and Allegro Senior Living at the AGCMO annual Construction Awards Gala. Both projects were finalists in their categories.
We were also excited to see City Foundry STL recognized by Forbes as one of the Top 10 Opportunity Funds in the Forbes OZ 20: The Top Opportunity Zone Catalysts. City Foundry STL has made significant progress through 2019 with the Food Hall expected to open later this summer.
Throughout the year, we also attended open houses, cut ribbons and celebrated grand openings alongside our clients.
Here’s a look at some of the projects that came to life in 2019:
St. Louis Union Station Soda Fountain
Ascend at Cave Creek
Cushman & Wakefield Portfolio Service Center
SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Pediatric Specialty Service Center
Epoque Golden Apartment Community
City of Georgetown Municipal Court
With a successful and celebratory 2019 in the books, we look forward to a new decade of helping our clients realize their dreams.