I met Mr. Sinquefield at his club in St. Louis. He is truly a chess lover.
Friday, September 11, 2009 Modified: Monday, September 14, 2009, 7:00am CDT
Maryland Medical Group sells building to Sinquefield
St. Louis Business Journal – by Lisa R. Brown and Angela Mueller
Maryland Medical Group has sold its former Central West End home for $1 million.
Maryland Medical closed Sept. 2 on the sale of the three-story vacant building at 4652 Maryland to Rex Sinquefield. The medical group moved to the Highlands office complex in 2008 and placed the 15,900-square-foot building on the market.
Shelly Davison, practice manager for Maryland Medical, said the move to the new Highlands facility gave the practice room for expansion.
“It’s a brand new facility, and we were able to upgrade our technology and provide more convenient parking for our patients,” Davison said. “And it gives us room for growth.”
Since moving to the Highlands last September, Maryland Medical has added a seventh physician. Dr. Anastassia Amaro joined the practice in January. Other physicians in the group include Drs. Deborah Parks, Fred Balis, Bernard Shore, William Bowen, Robert Shuman and Scott Groesch. The group specializes in rheumatology, cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology and internal medicine.
Sinquefield, a retired investment fund manager, political contributor and president of the public policy research organization Show-Me Institute, is keeping his intentions for the Central West End building close to the vest. Sinquefield also is the co-founder and past co-chairman of Dimensional Fund Advisors Inc., an investment advisory firm with more than $100 billion under management.
Laura Slay of Slay & Associates, Sinquefield’s public relations firm, said there was no information available about the use of the building. “There are many options on the table for its end use, but none have been finalized,” Slay said.
It’s unknown whether the building would be used to expand Sinquefield’s Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, which is located across the street at 4657 Maryland Ave. Sinquefield founded the nonprofit Chess Club in July 2008 and has since grown its membership to more than 500.
The success of the startup helped create a major coup in championship chess — the center was tapped to host the 2010 U.S. Chess Championship, to be held April 23 to May 6. The club also hosted the 2009 championship and is slated to host the 2009 U.S. Women’s Championship in October.
Some speculation on the building’s use has centered on a possible home for Sinquefield’s library of the chess legend Bobby Fischer, who died in 2008.
The library includes Fisher’s notebooks he used to prepare for the 1972 World Championship match with Boris Spassky. Sinquefield and his wife Jeanne paid $61,000 this summer to acquire the library.
Source: http://stlouis.bizjournals.com
What a waste of money !
The story of Rex Sinquefield’s financial support of chess in St. Louis is one of the major developments in US chess history. It is so under-reported as to be ridiculous. How long has US chess waited for a patron of this magnitude? FOREVER!!! This guy deserves immediate and huge recognition from the USCF. The list of cities that have tried, and failed, to sustain chess clubs is long. What Sinquefield has done in St. Louis is superb. Chess will never survive in the marketplace, since it is incapable of big profits. It jsut won’t happen, no matter how much wishful thinking. Chess can only be supported by wealthy patrons. This guy has set the template.
They should move the museum and hall of fame in Miami here.
Susan you errwhere! Mr. Sinquefield sweet name Rex! haha how that happen! SSShh im sneakin up on the “Russians” since they thought they were sneakin around on the icc with low accounts! the ,you missed the Fischer parties(chicken wings and pizza!} in the hood!!Watching Bobby do his thing to their top guys on the icc, treated them like babies,as a matter of fact i had Fischer waiting 30min for P.Svidler to finish his lecture!After he was done he made an excuse and said his mouse was broke and couldnt play! We fell out when he ran! haha.I will be by there to check out that library one day! for me its a necessity! hehe.
Anonymous #2 is right. Mr. Sinquefield deserves all the praise and attention for all the good he’s been doing for American chess.