Unisys Corp. plans to open this fall an information technology center that could eventually spread across an entire floor at 555 Washington Avenue, the building's owner said Monday.
Dan Barnard, president of St. Charles-based Greater Missouri Builders, said Unisys has signed a five-year lease on the building downtown. Unisys will initially occupy 10,000 square feet on the fifth floor and plans to expand its operation to 50,000 square feet, filling the floor, he said.
Efforts to reach a Unisys representative were unsuccessful. The company, based in suburban Philadelphia, said in June that its downtown IT center would employ as many as 300 in two years. Unisys officials said at the time that it preferred locating downtown because of the area's attractiveness to younger workers.
The facility will be a development hub for Unisys Federal Systems, which supports the company's federal government clients. To help lure Unisys, the state awarded the company $4.5 million in tax credits, plus about $1.1 million in other incentives.
Barnard said 555 Washington's attractive lease rate and its "very powerful" diesel-powered backup electric generator helped get Unisys as a tenant. He noted that the building is next to the former Dillard's department store, which is being converted to apartments and a hotel, and the former St. Louis Centre, which will become a parking garage with ground-floor retail space.
"It's going to be a real attractive avenue," he said. "There is going to be a lot going on there."
