Historic Renovation

It is with great satisfaction and excitement that I recommend PARIC Corporation to be this year's recipient of the AGC Keystone Award for the Peabody Opera House. I believe that PARIC and their team is deserving of this award for their commitment, creativity, professionalism, and tireless efforts that they have put forth to exceed all our expectations. We experienced nothing short of excellence with the PARIC team. Having them on-site to oversee all the details of this historic renovation was crucial. They were able to quickly solve any issues and provide solutions to keep us ahead of schedule and under budget. The team is dedicated to revitalizing downtown St. Louis and brining this extraordinary venue back to life. Such admirable undertakings are to be applauded. I believe that PARIC should be recognized and celebrated for their achievements. Hence, I am proud to submit this recommendation for the AGC Keystone Award for Paric Corporation.

Please accept this letter as my recommendation that Paric Corporation be considered for the AGC Keystone Award for their work on this historic restoration of the Arcade in downtown St. Louis. On its face, the Arcade restoration was a difficult assignment: 1.) two buildings built at two separate times over 100 years ago that needed to be re-built into a cohesive whole, 2.) the buildings had been vacant and taking on water for over 35 years before PARIC began their restoration -thus there were major structural issues that had to be resolved, 3.) The Arcade takes up a half block, leaving very little room for staging, and 4.) there were a myriad of historic details that had to be meticulously restored. In my opinion the quality of PARIC's restoration of The Arcade is second to none. This same opinion is widely shared, as The Arcade has won the St. Louis Landmarks Association, Most Enhanced Award, the Preserve Missouri Award from the Missouri Preservation Association, and The Arcade has been nominated for a Reader's Choice Award by Affordable Housing Finance Magazine, a national publication. And maybe most important, 282 families have all voted with their feet, that The Arcade is a high quality restoration -this restoration was done well. The biggest risk on this restoration was the type of structural concerns we might uncover in the masonry restoration given the building's 35-year exposure to the elements. PARIC was a major part of the pre-construction team that systematically reviewed the masonry throughout the building, but especially on the courtyard where the most water damage was evident. PARIC did an exemplary job here -the proof of that is that the building was delivered on budget. When PARIC bid The Arcade, they promised to deliver substantial completion within 16 months, this was 4 months sooner than other bidders, and at less cost. Sixteen months after they started, PARIC did exactly what they promised -they delivered substantial completion --on time! Given the difficulty and complexity of this assignment, PARIC did a wonderful job delivering this building on time and on budget. But given the high quality they delivered simultaneously, I would say that went above and beyond, and thus PARIC is deserving of the AGC Keystone Award

"Having worked closely with you and your staff on this project from pre-development through project completion, I know that this was not an easy task. I believe that the foundation for the success of the project was formed long before we began construction. The construction team brought a great deal of talent and expertise to the project and PARIC's management of this pre-construction process set the project up to succeed." "Once construction began, I was impressed by PARIC's ability to solve complex problems that are inevitable on a project of this size and complexity. These problems were made more difficult by the requirements and limitations of an historic rehabilitation, but it also made the creative solutions that much more impressive."