CREVE COEUR — A ӣƵ-based developer has plans to buy portions of Bayer’s mid-ӣƵ County campus as the agribusiness giant moves to create a hybrid working environment.
Pier Property Group is partnering with Edwardsville-based Fireside Financial on the deal to acquire the Bayer’s offices that lie on the west side of Lindbergh Boulevard, just south of Olive Boulevard, in Creve Coeur.
Pier Property Group owner Michael Hamburg declined to comment. Fireside Financial Managing Partner Michael Bailey said the property will be redeveloped as a mixed-use project.
“We think it’s going to be a great partnership with Pier Property Group,” Bailey said. “We’re looking forward to bringing exciting new features to the ӣƵ market.”
Bayer’s sprawling campus crosses Lindbergh Boulevard and long served as Monsanto’s headquarters before Germany-based Bayer bought the company in 2018.
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Bayer said it will keep its offices on the east side of Lindbergh and plans to update them for a hybrid working model to provide “greater employee flexibility and more efficient use of our office environment.” The ӣƵ-area remains the North American headquarters for Bayer’s crop science division.
“Like all companies, Bayer continually evaluates the facilities we utilize to ensure we’re able to best meet the needs of our customers and employees. As working from home becomes more prevalent as a result of new technology and the pandemic, we envision a future that will require less physical office space than before,” a spokesman said.
Bayer, in its announcement months earlier, had said it didn’t believe it would need as much office space with employees choosing to work some days from home as a result of the pandemic.
And it’s far from the only company in the ӣƵ region to reevaluate its needs: Health care company Centene Corp. is pausing its plans for an expansion in Clayton and is looking to reduce its office space across the U.S. SSM Health is looking for a new headquarters while it determines its office needs. And footwear company Caleres is selling its Clayton campus to an area developer who will remake the 9-acre property into a mixed-use development. Caleres is expected to take up some of the office space planned for that project.
The Bayer deal marks the latest partnership between Pier and Fireside: The two companies are developing the $60 million Target-anchored project in midtown ӣƵ that also will add about 196 apartments near ӣƵ University. That development is expected to open next summer.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story mischaracterized Bayer's Creve Coeur campus. It is the German company's North American crop science headquarters.
