BUSINESS MEMO: BREWERY TO EXPAND

The world's largest brewer is looking to be even bigger.

Beer giant Anheuser-Busch Co. Inc. has plans to build at its home base at St. Louis, and the work is estimated at between $500 million and $800 million over the next five years, said Jerry Feldhaus, executive secretary-treasurer of the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council AFL-CIO. By St. Louis standards, that's more than it cost to build the Trans World Dome.

So far, Anheuser-Busch will only acknowledge a new parking lot for trucks is planned, and the company wants to modernize its fermenting, packaging and warehouse facilities.

Feldhaus said the work was mentioned in a contract signed last fall between the brewery and various construction trade groups that would work on the projects. He had few details but said the projects should employ 300 to 400 union tradesmen at its peak.

The company's eight-story packaging plant is the largest in the world, with 27 acres of floor space and more than 25 miles of conveyor lines. The building was constructed 80 years ago.