It's official! In late May of 2008, the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri will move from our office on 2130 Kratky Road to one mile west, at 2300 Ball Drive, St. Louis, MO 63146. A new building is under construction, and GSEM has recently signed a lease to occupy two-thirds of the building once it is completed. We are very hopeful to be completed by May, but we are responsible for and will be managing the complete interior build-out - this assures that the space will be laid out to our specific needs.

Relocation Photos – visit often as these will be updated/changed with building progress

To help provide you with information on the move, here is a list of Frequently Asked Questions:

PHONES: After GSEM closes on Wednesday, May 21 for our move, our phone lines will be transferred to the new building. There will be NO phone service at the GSEM office on Kratky from 3 PM on May 21 until 8:30 AM on Tuesday, May 27, when the new office opens. During the period the office is closed, you may still call GSEM and leave a message in voice mail.

If you call the current main number (314) 890-9569 between May 21 and May 27, your call will be handled by our new automated attendant. If you know the extension of the person you are calling (all extensions will remain the same), you can choose to go to that voice mail box. However, if you do not know the extension of the person you are attempting to reach, you may leave a message in the general mailbox and your call will be returned after we reopen on Tuesday, May 27.

If you dial the direct number (314) 592-23xx) of the person you are calling (all direct numbers will remain unchanged), you will be connected directly to the voice mail box of the person you are calling.

Please note that the individual voice mail boxes of the persons you are calling will not be personalized until after we reopen for business on Tuesday, May 27. You will only hear that you have "reached mail box 23xx and may choose to leave a message". Most staff mailboxes will be personalized by the afternoon of Tuesday, May 27.

FAXES: In our new location each staff member will have a new personal fax number. The list of new personal fax numbers will be posted on our web site by Tuesday, May 27. In addition, we have designated (314) 890-0645 as our new general fax number. If you need to fax something, we encourage you to wait until after May 27 as there will be no one to receive the fax until then.

There's no ONE reason for the move, but rather several:

• MORE SPACE. We're going from less than 25,000 square feet to 29,500 square feet. This means more meeting rooms, a bigger Girl Scout Shop and a bigger Resource Center. We will also have "hotel-ing" spaces for staff who normally work from home or the Hannibal office to use when they come to the St. Louis office for work.
  
  
• MORE PARKING. Indeed, there will be more parking, with access to the building from a public entrance in front, and an employee-only entrance from the back lot.
  
  
• EASIER ACCESS. Making the turn from Page Avenue east onto Kratky Road is often a challenge, especially in rush hour traffic. Not to mention, we are somewhat hidden and off the beaten path, which, for newer volunteers or members who wish to visit the Girl Scout Shop or offices, it can be difficult to find. The new location has stop-light access onto Page, and we'll be visible from Ball Drive. In addition, Ball Drive runs to the north to Adie Road, another way in and out.
  
  
• SIMPLER FLOOR PLAN (click to see floorplan). We will be all on one floor. Meeting/conference rooms, the Resource Center, the Girl Scout Shop AND restrooms will be much easier to access - volunteers won't have to walk through office areas to find their meeting location … or a restroom!

• An increase in conference/meeting rooms, and their sizes. The new Trefoil Room will easily seat 90, and has a built in LCD projector for presentations. Same for the new Board room. We will also have a computer training room, along with four additional conference/meeting rooms.
  
  
• Growth for additional staff, if needed. Not all office/cube spaces will be filled when we move in. As our organization grows and staff needs increase, we will have the space to accommodate new team members.
  
  
• More room for archival displays. The new office location allows for more display areas of our archival items.

One thing that will be smaller in the new location is the warehouse - and this was done for a reason - to prompt the disposal of items that we no longer use or need. There are currently some things that have sat in the warehouse for several years, and have not been used during that time. While the warehouse may be smaller in square footage, we will be able to store things "up" on much higher shelving, as we will be getting a forklift to help us retrieve our items more easily.

A large floor plan of the new space which indicates where all departments are to be located is posted on the Web site. Once we move, a directory showing where each staff member is located will be made available.

Procedures in which volunteers/leaders work with staff to schedule space for meetings will not change. What will change is the number of meeting rooms available - there will be more of them!

YES. As of right now, we are able to take our phone numbers with us to the new location. Should something change later in the process, we will make sure that everyone is alerted of new numbers.

• Mary Wilson, 314-592-2397, mwilson@girlscoutsem.org
• Janet Vigen, 314-592-2326, jvigen@girlscoutsem.org