Lawrence Group acquires local architect firm Austin Tao

St. Louis-based Lawrence Group this morning announced that it has acquired Austin Tao & Associates, also based in St. Louis.

The deal, according to a press statement from the Lawrence Group, became effective Jan. 1.

Austin Tao, founded in 1981, will operate as a subsidiary of the Lawrence Group and be responsible for landscape architecture. The combined headquarters will remain in downtown St. Louis.

Austin Tao has a design staff of eight people in its St. Louis office and has an office in Beijing. Annual gross revenues have averaged $700,000 for the past three years. Among the company’s international projects, is the design of a four-acre urban plaza, Xi Dan, located a few blocks west of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games.

Its major projects in St. Louis include a pedestrian mall and plaza at Saint Louis University; projects at the Missouri History Museum, the J.M. McDonald Planetarium and Steinberg Skating Rink in Forest Park; the Probstein Golf Course; and stations and rights-of-way for MetroLink. The company also provided landscape design for the new Interstate 64 (Highway 40) improvements.

The Lawrence Group is one of the largest building design and planning companies in St. Louis Louis with 200 employees in five states. The company has offices in Austin, New York, Denver, and Davidson, N.C. The Lawrence Group was recently named in the “Top 100 Giants” by Interior Design magazine and provides architecture, interior design, graphic design, town planning, construction management, and real estate development services to health care, commercial and housing clients. The company also has a retail furniture showroom.