The Lawrence Group Completes Work on New Mike Shannon's Restaurant

St. Louis -- February 07, 2006 -- The new $4.5 million Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood restaurant designed by The Lawrence Group will open this week. The restaurant is located in the former Mark Twain Bank building at 620 Market Street. HBD was the general contractor and the project was developed by McGowan/Walsh Historic Renovations. HBD was the general contractor and the project was developed by McGowan/Walsh Historic Renovations.

The ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate this new location is scheduled for Thursday, February 9 at 4 p.m. Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood is owned by Shannon family members Mike, Judy and Pat. Mike Shannon is a St. Louis native, former St. Louis Cardinals baseball player and Cardinals broadcast announcer since 1972.

The original Mike Shannon’s restaurant has been a fixture at the corner of Chestnut and 7th Street in downtown St. Louis for several years. The new location across Kiener Plaza and near the new Busch Stadium will provide even higher visibility for the popular eatery and celebrity playground, and a close-up view of the new stadium.

The 19,000-square-foot renovation of the old bank building replicates the sophisticated atmosphere of the original Mike Shannon’s Restaurant while retaining its prized pieces of sports memorabilia. The new location featuring elements to tie in with the adjacent Ballpark District now in development downtown and include a lower level with private dining rooms and Hall of Fame banquet room, an outdoor elevated patio and an adjacent lower-level patio with a twosided bar to act as a beer garden and extension of the Ballpark Village development. The location allows a huge expansion of the establishment’s bar business, with an outdoor space that will accommodate 1,200.

The goal of the renovation and relocation was to grow Mike Shannon’s restaurant business alongside the hot redevelopment market in downtown St. Louis while upholding the company’s well-established restaurant experience. The Lawrence Group designed interior features for the dining room that include an illuminated glass column displaying 320 baseballs and a two-way fireplace clad in granite in the center of the dining room to provide a formal dining experience. The Hall of Fame banquet room uses the dark green and dark-stained wood color themes associated with the original Mike Shannon’s.

The biggest challenge we faced was meeting the construction schedule,” said Lawrence Group project architect Greg Trost. “With rigorous coordination and specifications of finishing materials, we managed to complete the renovation of the new location in just four months.”

One of the most interesting aspects of the renovation is its use of the former bank tenant’s vault, which has been integrated with the private dining room as a wine vault that features walls lined with wine bottles and retains the original bank vault door. The restaurant also features a custom photo-tile mural of Mike Shannon at the entry and terrazzo flooring with Mike Shannon’s logo inlaid in brass. Lawrence Group interior designer Lori Olsen said, “We tried to remain faithful to the essence of materials that Shannon’s is known for such as dark green walls, lots of woodwork, and brass accents, but fit them to the modern era of the new building. This translated into features like a brass tile mosaic feature wall behind the bar, custom light fixtures, and fabric on the booths that mimics baseball glove stitching.”

This is the second downtown St. Louis restaurant design project in the past two years for The Lawrence Group. Lucas Park Grille, a new restaurant on Washington Avenue in the emerging Loft District, was completed in 2004 and has received excellent reviews for its interior design as well as its menu. The Lawrence Group also designed Boccardi’s at the Coronado across Lindell from Saint Louis University Campus in mid-town St. Louis in 2003.

The Lawrence Group is one of the largest architectural, interior design and town planning firms in St. Louis with more than 150 employees in five states, including network offices in Austin, New York City, Denver and the Carolinas. Named in the “Top 100 Giants” by Interior Design magazine, The Lawrence Group offers design, project delivery and real estate development services to health care, commercial and housing clients, and is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the U.S. Green Building Council and the Urban Land Institute. For more information, call Donna Gamache, director of communications, at 314-231-5700 x341 or visit www.thelawrencegroup.com.

This site incorporates links to other websites. We do not endorse, nor are we responsible for,
the content on those other websites. STLCity.com hosted and maintained by ZeroLevity Inc.