The One Park Place building was originally commissioned and occupied by the Business Men’s Assurance company, until its sale in 2002. Opened in 1963, the 20-story international-style building was designed by renowned architect Bruce Graham of Skidmore Owings & Merrill of Chicago.

In 1964, the building received the First Honor award from the American Institute of Architects, one of only two Missouri buildings to be so acknowledged. The building was also featured in an exhibit on 20th Century American Architecture, assembled in 1965 by New York’s Museum of Modern Art. In 2002 it was designated a national landmark.


One Park Place Investors, L.L.C., is a partnership that includes Newport Beach-based SWD Communities along with a major property investor/developer which is both public and private. SWD is a community development and home building company with offices in California, Utah and Missouri. The company specializes in creating medium and large master planned communities, and also builds specialty housing products. The collective experience of the top-level managers in SWD Communities is extensive and covers entitlement, planning, construction, marketing and sales of various types of real estate.