St. Louis Elevator Service

Delivering a great customer experience is a priority at MEI, and this is reflected in the relationships we have built with many of our customers over the last 50 years.

School Sisters of Notre Dame in Mankato, MN, is one of those loyal customers that has had a great relationship with us. When we opened a new location in Missouri, we took the opportunity to connect with them at their location in St. Louis.

Our Branch Manager connected with the St. Louis SSND facilities manager to discuss a modernization on a traction passenger elevator that had been originally built in 1888. The elevator, located in their Motherhouse, was the only one available to get the Nuns to their sleeping quarters, so the job needed to be completed in a timely fashion.

Because of the relationship MEI had built with SSND over the years, MEI was awarded the project.

This modernization included a new controller from Smartrise, GAL door equipment, Innovation fixtures, and a replacement machine from Hollister Whitney. MEI also worked with CBI to transform a wood platform inside an attic into a modern, efficient, and stylish temperature-controlled room.

MEI mechanics also removed and replaced existing car wiring, machine room wiring, hoistway wiring, and traveling cable. The car top station was also removed, and a new station with GFCI was installed.

When the project was done, the SSND Facilities Manager stated,

“I spent years working with the same company. As time progressed, issues became more common. We decided to give MEI a shot at a mod project, and they blew the competition away. After things went so well on the mod project, it made sense to give them a shot at our maintenance contract. The crew has not disappointed us. Our units are up and running smoothly and have never looked better.”

The holidays are a time for family and friends to come together to celebrate and enjoy each other’s company. This year, though, Christmas was a little different for our mechanics in St. Louis.

At 1 a.m. on Christmas morning, our Branch Manager received a phone call from Council Tower Apartments, a 27-story building in St. Louis that had a water issue. The manager reached out to the on-call technician to let him know they were heading there and would report back with the situation. Jon Harrison insisted on meeting them there to help survey the problem.

Upon arrival, they saw that three elevators were down and the cartop equipment was wet. The damage could not be fixed with only one mechanic, and being that it was Christmas Day, we were unsure if any other mechanics were available.

Three of our mechanics—Adam Dragovich, Brent Lane, and Andy Schmitz—were all willing to show up and help get the problem fixed. The morning was spent gathering replacement parts and other supplies needed to complete the project.

The mechanics worked together to replace all the car top boards, door motors, and blown switches. Any corroded door interlock equipment was replaced as well. They also inspected and serviced all the hoistway locks and equipment from the 21st floor down.

After spending the first half of Christmas morning with the staff at Council Towers, all three elevators were fixed and operational by 10:30 a.m. The staff and residents were very thankful for the hard work performed by the MEI team.