Nine days and counting. That's how long a commercial high-rise in downtown Clayton has reportedly been without power, according to lawyers who work inside the building and are now climbing flights of stairs in the dark just to retrieve client files.
The building in question is the Sevens Building, commonly known as the Clayton high-rise commercial building, and the outage has reportedly been caused by a blown transformer, according to FOX 2. Visitors arriving at the building are learning about the outage only once they get there, with no power to light hallways or run elevators. Attorneys inside say they've been forced to use flashlights to navigate the darkened tower.
Bevis Schock, an attorney with an office on the building's 13th floor, told the station he's been working remotely because of the prolonged blackout, and that he's been paying staff who simply can't access the building to do their jobs. One attorney reported carrying boxes of legal files down the stairwells by hand, a stark image of a modern law office reduced to pre-digital workarounds.
No Timeline for When the Lights Come Back On
Schock said occupants are frustrated and don't know when they'll be able to return to normal operations inside the building. There's reportedly no final completion timeline for the repair work, as noted by FOX 2 Now, leaving tenants in limbo as the outage stretches on. The power outage has forced occupants to navigate dark hallways and stairwells for well over a week now.
There was a glimmer of hope recently when an Ameren utility truck was spotted outside the building. Schock said he took that as a good sign that repairs might finally be underway. But he also cautioned that the entire block could be shut off at midnight for the work to proceed, meaning building occupants may face a total block shutdown once the new transformer arrives.
A Building Already Facing Financial Headwinds
The outage comes as the Sevens Building has separately faced financial strain. A 2011 report from STLtoday found the building was headed toward likely foreclosure amid the departure of a key tenant and a weak commercial real estate market at the time. It is not established whether that earlier financial history has any connection to the current power outage.
For now, the lawyers inside the Sevens Building are left waiting in the dark, hauling files up and down stairwells and hoping the Ameren truck spotted outside is a sign that power, and some semblance of normal business, is finally on its way back.
