FEATURED TEAM MEMBERS — The worlds of real estate and interior design take just the right combination of team members to complete a project that tells a unique story. At ONYX, we try to make the journey easy for our clients, cultivating a true stylistic collaboration between you as a client, and the project lead who guides you through the process from beginning to end.  Meet two of the primary personalities at Onyx DCI.

Jassen Johnson

Developer, Deal Maker & Creative Thinker

“My work has evolved into embracing not only the quality of the design or deal, but most importantly, is about embracing the relationships that form in the process.”

Jassen locates and structures development projects, bringing together a network of investors, clients, tenants, financial institutions and local officials to structure successful projects for all clients and project sizes. He leads our team from initial client discussions to design blueprints and interiors composition.

Johnson and team are fluent in finding and processing the complicated combinations of incentives that weave together to make a development deal profitable. Jassen is a graduate of the University of Illinois with a Master’s Degree in Architectural Management and Business and currently on several boards. Jassen has years of experience in urban redevelopment facilitation, design, sales and leasing. 

Johnson and team have won several awards for Historic Preservation and Design that clearly set their projects apart.  He has helped facilitate many recognizable redevelopment projects in the City of St. Louis. A large portion of his commercial development work can be seen in Midtown Alley and most recently the Jefferson Connector project known as City Commons, as a continued focus and change agent in the region.

WORKING WITH JASSEN

PROJECT: EUCLID

“Jassen is a multi-talented professional with an extra dose of compassion and integrity. When Sherpa, our start-up technology firm, outgrew our office space, Jassen took our situation to heart and worked with us every step of the way. After helping us locate an incredible space in Midtown Alley, Jassen brokered the deal, conceptualized and drew up plans, selected all the finishes, oversaw construction, and purchased and coordinated the installation of the furniture.  He even curated the art.  The space is incredible! Indoor climbing wall, zen room, rooftop bar, floating conference rooms, and much more gave us everything we could have wanted.” 

— David A. Smith & Alexandra Fisher, Sherpa Co-Founders and Renaissance Development Associates Clients

Nicole lewis

Creator, Marketer & Design Dream-Maker

Design is like making a good cocktail – it takes a combination of colors, layers and textures to make it truly intoxicating.

As our Head of Projects and Design, Nicole focuses most of her amazing work on our growing interior design business, creating beautiful rooms for a variety of client types including commercial and hospitality spaces. She also has created the vision and future of our internal social media and marketing departments, making her an integral team member across the board.

A St. Louis native, Nicole has taken great pride in seeing the city grow, and in the impact her designs as a part of ONYX have made on the community overall.

A consummate student and traveler who is currently continuing her education at the New York School of Interior Design, Nicole brings a unique creativity back to her clients, creating spaces of beauty and functionality for a wide range of project types. She focuses on building long-lasting and collaborative relationships as she helps her clients with everything from procurement to marketing to more creative interior design aspects.

Her ability to organize and prioritize client facing projects and management while simultaneously controlling the fast paced demands of the internal office is establishing herself as an indispensable component to the ONYX team; not to mention her quick wit makes her a firecracker to be around!

WORKING WITH NICOLE

PROJECT: MALONE @ JC MIDTOWN

This multi-family residential project in the JC Midtown neighborhood, needed a special touch from the ONYX team. Nicole entered to update the original designs to more fully reflect the inspiration behind the building and project itself: Annie Malone.

Malone was a businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist, and is considered to be one of the first Black female millionaires thanks to her work in the beauty industry, specifically on Black hair care. Malone was at the heart of every design touch in the space, from a large-scale portrait of her in the entry areas to busts of her three most famous hairstyles. Creating a space that paid homage to the history of Black and female excellence, while injecting modern touches of rock n’ roll and international influences led to a space that is uniquely St. Louis, and uniquely Annie Malone.