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STUDIO NEWS TOKY CLIENTS LEAD DOWNTOWN ST. LOUIS RENAISSANCE  It's proof that downtown revitalization in St. Louis is "real," Mayor Francis Slay told the Post-Dispatch.The mayor was reacting to news that Centene Corp. will move its suburban-based headquarters to downtown St. Louis, news that was followed two days later by the headline-stealing announcement that St. Louis-based Pyramid Cos. will develop a $400 million downtown retail district called Mercantile Exchange. Together, these two projects will pour $650 million of development into downtown, and TOKY is right at the heart of it, providing brand identity, logo design, Web sites, brochures and more for the high-profile development and projects within it. Plans for the Mercantile Exchange new office space, new retail space, condos, luxury apartments and an upscale hotel. The hotel, the apartments and 74 of the condos will be housed in the former Dillard's building at Washington Avenue and Seventh, which has been named The Laurel. TOKY's involvement in The Laurel includes building brand identity, creating ads and buying media, as well as designing the logo, Web site, brochures, print advertising and sales center display graphics. Centene and Mercantile Exchange may be the tipping point for downtown development, but they're only part of a success story that's being written by dedicated developers, architects, retailers, restauranteurs and visionaries, many of whom are also TOKY clients. Over the past five years, roughly 70 restaurants and businesses have set up shop downtown. Among them, The Arcade, which opened in June to much fanfare in downtown's historic Post Office Square. On its TOKY-designed Web site, The Arcade boasts to be "the city's most impressive interior restoration" and a symbol of a St. Louis being returned to its former brilliance.
Scanning down the TOKY client roster - which includes, among others, HOK, Trivers, Mercantile Exchange, The Laurel, The Chase Park Plaza and The Arcade — you can't help notice an obvious pattern.
Thoelke's personal passion for architecture is deep rooted.
"I started out in college as an architect, because I didn't know better. I thought people with my kind of brain went into architecture. But then I went to architecture school and found out that I was definitely not an architect," he laughs. "I still LOVE architecture, and I love working with architects and developers."
Not just any architects and developers, though. TOKY's client roster is actually quite a unique and elite group.
"We love working on buildings and adaptive reuse projects in downtown, like The Laurel and The Arcade and The Chase Park Plaza."
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HIGHLIGHTS TOKY HELPS ART FIX RAISE $20,000 After having revamped more than 1200 homes in St. Louis City and County in just 14 years, you might say Rebuilding Together-St. Louis has home repair down to an art. And because the organization provides that service at no cost to low-income homeowners, local artists are joining forces to raise funds and awareness to keep the momentum building.
Enter ArtFix, a silent auction and evening of entertainment to benefit Rebuilding Together-St. Louis. The event, which featured silent art and gift auctions, food and live music, took place Saturday, November 10, FK Photography Studio in St. Louis, just down the street from TOKY. The event was wildly successful, especially being a first year event. The crowd was at capacity, and it was easily Rebuilding Together's largest fundraiser ever.
TOKY CHASES GLOBAL ACCOLADES
Landing a coveted spot among the 300 global entries accepted into the prestigious annual is a major accomplishment, not just for TOKY but for all St. Louis creatives.
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