ST. LOUIS-Peabody Energy, a private-sector coal company, has renewed and expanded its lease here to 215,362 square feet at Gateway One at 701 Market St. here in the CBD. The company has added two floors with its 15 year lease, enough to give the company more than 50% of the building and name rights – the office will now be known as Peabody Plaza.

Peabody has weathered the recession well, producing nearly $7 billion in revenue during 2010 and increased its workforce by 12%, bringing the company to 500 employees on nine floors at the 409,920-square-foot building. With this deal, the facility is about 96% leased, with additional tenants including Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, Marsh Mercer and Gray Ritter & Graham PC.

Robert Assoian, EVP with Daymark Realty Advisors Inc., says Peabody is a strong supporter of the downtown, and has been at the building since 1991. “They definitely had other options here and in the suburbs. The downtown market is relatively slow, so it was critical to keep them here at the building, it would have been tough to replace them,” he tells GlobeSt.com. Daymark manages the 15-story building on behalf of multiple investment programs and individual owners.

Assoian wouldn’t reveal the lease rate for this deal. Average lease rates in the CBD are around $18.75 per square foot for class A buildings. This is the cheapest rate in the St. Louis area, as the suburban rents are higher, up to $26.83 per square foot in Creve Coeur, MO, according to a fourth quarter Grubb & Ellis report.