Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals gives the media a tour of the first building being constructed at Ballpark Village, during the topping off ceremony in St. Louis on August 27, 2013. Ballpark Village, located next to Busch Stadium, is a development that will eventually be a mixed-use retail, entertainment, office and residential district.  UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals gives the media a tour of the first building being constructed at Ballpark Village, during the topping off ceremony in St. Louis on August 27, 2013. Ballpark Village, located next to Busch Stadium, is a development that will eventually be a mixed-use retail, entertainment, office and residential district. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

The St. Louis Cardinals  held a formal topping off ceremony this morning to celebrate the completion of a significant construction milestone in the $100 million first phase development of Ballpark Village.

A nearly one-hundred foot long A-frame roof truss was carefully lowered into place on the northern end of the retractable skylight roof opening to symbolically mark the ceremonial end of the structural steel work on the project. Hundreds of construction workers, along with officials with the St. Louis Cardinals, signed banners affixed to the beam before it was raised into place to help mark the occasion.

“While today marks a significant milestone, there is still a great deal of work to be done to be ready by Opening Day 2014,” said William DeWitt III, President of the Cardinals. “Today was really about pausing briefly to say thanks to all of the workers who are helping make Ballpark Village a reality.”

The construction team has made significant progress on the project since breaking ground earlier this year, including making significant street improvements around the site, demolishing the Bowling Hall of Fame and Stadium West Parking garage pedestrian bridge, removing the old Busch Stadium pile caps, grading the entire 10-acre site, and installing all of the underground utilities to support the development of the full 10-acre, seven square block project.

“Our structural steel work is nearly complete and the buildings will soon be enclosed,” said Chase Martin, Ballpark Village Development Director. “Our work moves inside as we focus on tenant build out.”