Centene Corp. has donated its $25 million Ferguson claims center building to the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. It’s the largest single donation to any Urban League organization across the country.
The 60,000-square-foot building will house early childhood programs, workforce and empowerment services, housing assistance and a regional food distribution center. The Urban League will also lease the space to other nonprofit organizations and commercial businesses.
“When you look at the Ferguson, Dellwood, West Florissant corridor and the overall city of Ferguson, this would then be our fourth facility to show people that the Urban League, the corporate community, the business world, the governmental entities that are involved in partnering with us see this as a continuous priority,” said Michael McMillan, CEO and president of the Urban League. “Ferguson has not been abandoned, it has not been forgotten.”
The former managed care service center is located at 2900 Pershall Road. Centene opened the building in 2016. Its former CEO and president, Michael Neidorff, said the center was an investment in the community and a message to other businesses that left Ferguson after a white police officer killed Michael Brown Jr. in 2014.
Neidorff’s goal was to bring more jobs to the area. It once employed more than 250 people, but after the pandemic occurred and employees were sent home to work virtually, the building sat nearly empty for a few years.
McMillan said he spoke with Centene’s senior leadership team about acquiring the facility to expand empowerment and community programming. At the time, Centene was reevaluating its portfolio of properties to see which buildings were no longer necessary since many employees were working from home.
The league will make minor adjustments to the space to divide the building up for different partnerships and departments. It will open in June.
"We are honored to support the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis in its mission to create a more inclusive and empowered society," said Ken Fasola, president of Centene Corporation. "By donating this building, we aim to strengthen the Urban League's capacity to serve the needs of individuals and families in the north St. Louis County area and beyond."
Ferguson is already home to three other Urban League properties. The league took over the QuikTrip area that was burned during the 2014 protest and turned it into a community service center. It plans to open a $10 million senior housing and community center complex along the West Florissant corridor on May 21. It has 44 units and will offer an exercise center, a computer lab and a food pantry to seniors living in the facility. Across from the complex, residents will soon have access to a business incubator, a small banquet center, a restaurant and a full-service bank.
“[Hopefully] people will be able to use it for the public benefit, from the resources to services and trying to access things that they need to benefit themselves in their families, right there in the heart of Ferguson,” McMillan said. “So that they will be able to improve their lives and deal with the issues of poverty, lack of resources and lack of opportunity.”
