Hotel Saint Louis 705 Olive

moorlander · PostApr 10, 2015#12015-04-10T11:49+00:00

Per today's BJ. The Celia family has sold the 15 story 705 Olive and it is to become a Boutique Hotel Blackhawk managed by Marriott. The Gills opened a Hotel Blackhawk and Iowa and they're believed to be the mystery developer. (Not confirmed)

Andreas said a new hotel could thrive in St. Louis. “With the closing of the Millennium, the St. Louis market lost 780 rooms in downtown inventory, so there is room to replace some of that inventory,” he said.

http://m.bizjournals.com/stlouis/print- ... 685&r=full

roger wyoming II · PostApr 10, 2015#22015-04-10T12:30+00:00

^ I've been calling hotel for this one! If they put the beer garden back on the rooftop I'll run naked down Olive. Now if we can only get the Chemical back online we'll have firmed up almost the entire OPO area and hopefully allow for more work to flow down the street to the Railway Exchange/LaSalle death zone and over to Locust.

PostApr 10, 2015#32015-04-10T12:40+00:00

^ Forgot to add that I hate calling it 705 Olive and prefer the original Union Trust.

Presbyterian · PostApr 10, 2015#42015-04-10T16:07+00:00

I had heard that a different developer was planning a boutique hotel downtown. Not sure whether this is the same project. This one is exciting, though. That's a fantastic building.

moorlander · PostApr 10, 2015#52015-04-10T16:20+00:00

This is a big project. The article suspects at minimum a $45million build out (150k/room @ 300 rooms) It did not speculate on what would happen to the 3 retail bays currently occupied Pickle’s Deli, India Palace and The Executive Salon.

framer · PostApr 10, 2015#62015-04-10T16:27+00:00

Sure hope they bring back the original round windows just above street level.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7189/6987 ... af21_b.jpg

jstriebel · PostApr 10, 2015#72015-04-10T16:45+00:00

BOOOOO. Blackhawks. BOOOOO.

That's all I've got. Development is good, though.

wabash · PostApr 10, 2015#82015-04-10T17:18+00:00

Great news! The return of a rooftop beer garden sounds like it would be an instant cash cow. Also it'd be amazing to get the original facade for floors 1 & 2 refurbished. I wonder if some of the old stone work might be stored by the City Museum or some of the other architectural preservationists around town.

It could just be coincidence, but this redevelopment continues the trend of hotels gravitating toward the Convention Center (Embassy Suites, Magnolia, Courtyard by Marriott, and now Blackhawk), which bodes well for MX, OPO Square, and Wash. Ave. in general.

roger wyoming II · PostApr 10, 2015#92015-04-10T17:46+00:00

framer wrote:Sure hope they bring back the original round windows just above street level.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7189/6987 ... af21_b.jpg

Interesting after looking at ^ that perhaps square w/in circle windows were always that way?

PostApr 10, 2015#102015-04-10T17:54+00:00

moorlander wrote: It did not speculate on what would happen to the 3 retail bays currently occupied Pickle’s Deli, India Palace and The Executive Salon.

I wouldn't doubt those would be relocated... hopefully they'd find suitable space nearby. What would be great is if the street level space on 7th gets reactivated as part of the project... it is really gloomy and depressing over there alongside the closed Macy's.

And going all-out, a home run would be if they build a parking garage with street level retail and apartments up top in the infill space behind the building to serve hotel and nearby residential as apparently that is becoming a premium and may have been an issue with the Chemical redevelopment.

moorlander · PostApr 10, 2015#112015-04-10T18:11+00:00

roger wyoming II wrote: And going all-out, a home run would be if they build a parking garage with street level retail and apartments up top.

Can we rephrase this? An apartment building with parking on the first few floors and street level retail just sounds better to me

roger wyoming II · PostApr 10, 2015#122015-04-10T18:14+00:00

^ Can we rephrase this? An apartment building with underground parking and retail on the first floor just sounds better to me

jstriebel · PostApr 10, 2015#132015-04-10T18:17+00:00

roger wyoming II wrote:
framer wrote:Sure hope they bring back the original round windows just above street level.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7189/6987 ... af21_b.jpg
Interesting after looking at ^ that perhaps square w/in circle windows were always that way?

I think the windows pictured there are on the side of the building. The front of the facade was re-done at some point and lost almost all it's ornateness, including replacing the round windows with squares—not just the glasswork, but the whole thing. This link suggests 1924, but that would mean they were ahead of the curve in screwing up beautiful buildings lol.

http://www.builtstlouis.net/opos/705olive.html

roger wyoming II · PostApr 10, 2015#142015-04-10T18:22+00:00

^ this reminds me of somebody posted on twitter a few days ago a great picture of the changes of a street when old buildings came down circa 1900. Really cool picture showing the city building up.... I'll try to dig it down.

edit: here is a link to the tweet about 1201 Washington

debaliviere · PostApr 10, 2015#152015-04-10T18:49+00:00

Where are people getting this rooftop beer garden idea?

roger wyoming II · PostApr 10, 2015#162015-04-10T18:51+00:00

^ There was a rooftop beer garden back in its heyday.

arch city · PostApr 10, 2015#172015-04-10T20:38+00:00

Totally missed this.....

Anyway, here's a good photo.

Presbyterian · PostApr 11, 2015#182015-04-11T01:09+00:00

Backstory on the Gills' plans here:
http://qctimes.com/news/local/as-hotel- ... a7a9e.html

Amy and Amrit Gill announced plans Tuesday to open hotels with the "Hotel Blackhawk" name in four to five cities around the Midwest, including their hometown of St. Louis.

"It really is a brand in and of itself," Amy Gill said. "It's a really unique place, and we'd like to continue that mission."

Amrit Gill announced what he called the "Hotel Blackhawk Collection" and will be meeting with Marriott to discuss the brand. Hotel Blackhawk became part of the Marriott Autograph Collection of luxury hotels in 2013.

"We believe the Blackhawk has a special place in the community's hearts and minds," he said. "We'd like to create that in other cities. We feel St. Louis deserves a Hotel Blackhawk."

Besides St. Louis, where their Restoration St. Louis company is based and where they live, the Gills are traveling to other Midwest cities looking for buildings similar to the Davenport hotel: historic and with a downtown setting.

beer city · PostApr 11, 2015#192015-04-11T19:02+00:00

Awesome project! Can't wait to see the details - This building is in really good shape - The round windows still exist on the west alley side on the building - But I cant see them spending the money to bring the front ones back- either way a nice project.

I wonder what the occupancy is? It would be nice if the current tenants find space downtown. It should also take a tiny bite out of the awful vacancy number for downtown "B" class space

I would imagine that the first floor tenants will have to relocate - As i am sure that lobby functions and and whatever hotel restaurant they have will take up the first floor

roger wyoming II · PostApr 11, 2015#202015-04-11T20:14+00:00

^ After Anders Accounting left for Bank of America Plaza and taking its couple hundred workers out of the building it looks like it left office occupancy at about 50%. (Anders needs more love, btw, as it also brought about 60 workers downtown from the County after buying a firm.... one of the few recent coups for downtown.)

Here is a pretty good article on the Anders move and the Louis Sullivan gem, btw...

http://www.stltoday.com/business/column ... e1b6f.html

I was calling hotel but thought it would be something The Peabody might look at.... I wonder if they are still looking around.

jstriebel · PostApr 11, 2015#212015-04-11T21:57+00:00

If the first floor tenants are forced to move, that's honestly one of the best parts of the project in a weird way. I'm talking specifically about Pickles, I guess—I'm not sure about the others.

But Pickles does great business. So they'll instantly enliven whatever storefront they relocate to.

wabash · PostApr 11, 2015#222015-04-11T22:15+00:00

True. Although I'd feel better about it if the Chemical Building was actively leasing its retail space, the Arcade as planned included more retail facing either 8th or Olive, the Board of Ed. Building was building out first floor retail (instead of the apparently planned residential).

It could be a net gain as you say, but it'd be nice if some of the key retail corners in/around OPO Square were available and activated. Pickles going into the one planned retail spot in the Arcade at 8th & Pine would be a great move.

True_dope · PostApr 14, 2015#232015-04-14T17:12+00:00

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog ... could.html

Confirmed

arch city · PostApr 14, 2015#242015-04-14T18:36+00:00

True_dope wrote:Confirmed

Sounds like a great opportunity for Cordish to market a new office tower (or a piece of BPV) to Cella and his Southern Real Estate & Financial Co. - unless Cella intends to build downtown or elsewhere.

wabash · PostApr 14, 2015#252015-04-14T19:54+00:00

It's a nice idea, but hard to believe a savvy, long-time real estate investor (as it sounds like Cella/Southern Real Estate is) would bother getting tangled up/putting up with Cordish.