A former manufacturing facility for coke used in steel production has a new life as a mixed-use industrial complex — under Johns Manville roofs.
River City Business Park was built at the site of the former Carondelet coke facility, which had stood abandoned since 1989 and was declared a brownfield site. The federal government defines brownfields as “abandoned, idled or underused industrial and commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.”
Developer Green Street Real Estate Ventures remediated the 54-acre parcel, and it now includes a mix of office space and warehouses. Planning for the new roofs included designing an energy-efficient system to keep the three buildings as environmentally friendly and green as possible.
Family-owned Gateway Roofing, LLC — the largest minority-owned roofing contractor in the St. Louis metropolitan area that has completed nearly 600 roofing projects since its founding in 1987 — finished the three-building job in December 2023 after a full year of work.
Gateway Senior Estimator and Project Manager Miles Rosa selected a roofing system that uses JM’s ENRGY 3® Polyisocyanurate foam board for insulation and 60 mil TPO membrane for waterproofing. The roof was mechanically fastened, and the seams were welded with a robot welder. More than 461,000 square feet of roofing over three buildings was put down by an experienced and hardworking crew of seven from Gateway.
Visualize 85 60-foot loaded semi-trucks in a row stretching more than a mile — that’s the volume of material it took to complete the high-profile job. At four stories high, about 45 feet, Beacon Building Products resourcefully delivered the massive rolls of TPO and other materials to the roof.
Rosa had this to say about working with Johns Manville products and local manufacturer’s representative Mike Nienkemper, territory manager of GIE, Limited: “I’ve worked with Mike and JM products for years and their performance on this job was excellent — which is business as usual for both companies. JM provided most of the products on this job. They are a preferred vendor, and we specify or recommend JM products as often as we can.”
Of the collaboration, Neinkemper said, “Being a partner with Johns Manville means more than just installing a roof. It means getting materials on site on time. It means outstanding customer service from conception of a project through completion. This job was no exception, the last materials order was delivered within two weeks and the job was completed on time — thanks in large part to JM’s robust supply chain.”