By Nathan Rubbelke, St. Louis Business Journal
Cleveland-based Everstream, which provides fiber network services to businesses, said Wednesday it intends to invest $25 million in the St. Louis area as part of its plan to construct a 800-route-mile fiber network. The firm also plans to add workers in its St. Louis office.
The company’s fiber route will cover the greater metropolitan area, including St. Louis County, St. Charles County, Metro East and downtown St. Louis.
“There’s been a long time coming where folks have been talking about coming to St. Louis and building fiber and investing and it really has just not happened for the last several years. We’re excited to show that investment to the folks in the community and be a part of the community in servicing not only our nationwide wholesale customers that want to be providing services in the St. Louis market but also to the enterprise,” Everstream President and CEO Brett Lindsey told the Business Journal.
The first 300 miles of Everstream’s local network plan will be built across O’Fallon and St. Charles, with the first 150 miles expected to be finished in early October. Another 150 miles are anticipated to be complete in the first quarter of 2021. Everstream said its network can provide internet, voice and data services at speeds up to 100 gigabits per second.
“For us, it’s really how do we then connect customers to where they want to go. We’re going to connect to different data centers in the St. Louis area as well as then provide connectivity between St. Louis and all the other markets we operate in. That gives customers in St. Louis an opportunity to buy direct connectivity between their locations,” Lindsey said.
Everstream, which is owned by Australian investment manager AMP Capital, first announced it would expand in St. Louis in 2019 as part of a plan to invest hundreds of millions to grow its fiber network across the Midwest. The company in April 2019 acquired St. Louis-based Arch Fiber Networks in a deal that Lindsey said allowed the Cleveland company to “get a running start” in St. Louis.
The company’s St. Louis office is located downtown at 900 Walnut St. It has about 14 employees, and Everstream said Wednesday it plans for the office to house more than 20 new employees. The St. Louis office is led by Regional Vice President of Sales Paul Peach and Regional Vice President of Operations Greg Meinczinger.
Everstream’s planned investment in St. Louis comes as the Cleveland firm is moving rapidly to expand its footprint. It said that during the past year it has made two acquisitions, opened five new offices and increased its fiber network by 5,000 route miles.