urbanSTL

Interior demolition began weeks ago at the LaSalle building, which will be Hotel Indigo at the Arch when it opens by the middle of 2018.

ViaNova Development, of Chattanooga, Tenn., is doing the $11 million project, which encompasses the LaSalle, at 501 Olive, and the adjoining Paradowski building at 303 North Broadway. Neil Kapadia, a ViaNova principal, said the LaSalle should be “cleared out” in February.

“From there, it’s full speed ahead … and beginning construction,” he said.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... f4f51.html

It's been a while since I've driven/walked by this building. Anyone know if it's still on track for mid 2018 opening? I am really looking forward to the rooftop bar.

^ I'm not sure of the status for opening but work seemed to be pretty active last time I went by a week or so ago.... hopefully we'll get the sidewalk back soon.

my guesstimate is end of the year best case.

The new windows look good. My guess is that this won't be open till March. The rooms are still being framed, new windows are still being installed, the small neighboring building still seems to have a lot of work left and there are missing bricks and terra cotta pieces.

chriss752 wrote: ↑

Feb 21, 2019

For being such a skinny building, this is taking forever, Steel is up on the roof for the future rooftop bar. The small 3-floor building is waiting for its new facade.

Any idea why this is taking forever?

Hotel Indigo's website lists this hotel as accepting reservations for November 4th, 2019 and beyond. So this appears to be way behind schedule. In addition to this, I think it is odd that only 8 floors will be utilized for hotel rooms. The website says, "8 floors, 88 guestrooms with 2 suites and 86 non-smoking rooms". 62 of the rooms will have one bed. Doing that leaves 3 floors of space that isn't utilized. Currently, the assumed makeup is...
1st Floor: Check-in/out and lounge
2nd Floor: Meeting room
3rd-10th Floor: Guestrooms
11th Floor: Unknown
12th Floor: Unknown
13th Floor: Unknown
Rooftop: Bar

The website does say that there are two meeting rooms totaling 5000SF and can hold up to 100 people. So I guess that takes up a floor. There is also in room Spa services, so you can call the front desk and they'll send a spa aficionado to your room.

stlien wrote:

chriss752 wrote: For being such a skinny building, this is taking forever, Steel is up on the roof for the future rooftop bar. The small 3-floor building is waiting for its new facade.

Any idea why this is taking forever?

They had to do a TOOOOON of masonry, structural work, and hazardous abatement up front. I would guess that put them off timeline.

walker wrote:

stlien wrote:

chriss752 wrote: For being such a skinny building, this is taking forever, Steel is up on the roof for the future rooftop bar. The small 3-floor building is waiting for its new facade.

Any idea why this is taking forever?

They had to do a TOOOOON of masonry, structural work, and hazardous abatement up front. I would guess that put them off timeline.

I imagine they knew about that work "up front", unless you're saying that there was more masonry, structural, and abatement work than expected.

…. or the prime and or his sub gave an extremely aggressive schedule to get the work is another thought.  Then reality took over.

dredger wrote: …. or the prime and or his sub gave an extremely aggressive schedule to get the work is another thought.  Then reality took over.

I can see that.

Looks like some new street level windows have gone in.

I know others have shared similar sentiments, but between this and Hayden's Mercantile Exchange renovation, it's like a race to the bottom as far as expediency goes on this block. I look forward to the year 2022 when these projects finally wrap up In all seriousness though, I'm thrilled these projects are being done at all, so I don't have any REAL complaints. Plus, I'll give them an extra break since I know there is a shortage of skilled craftsmen with the boom we are going through.

Tim wrote: I know others have shared similar sentiments, but between this and Hayden's Mercantile Exchange renovation, it's like a race to the bottom as far as expediency goes on this block. I look forward to the year 2022 when these projects finally wrap up In all seriousness though, I'm thrilled these projects are being done at all, so I don't have any REAL complaints. Plus, I'll give them an extra break since I know there is a shortage of skilled craftsmen with the boom we are going through.

Hayden should be commended for not taking subsidies on his projects, but the work usually has very shoddy finishes. 

Look at how the door frames are peeling on the Alverne project he did.

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.6300205 ... 312!8i6656

I guess this is what happens when your downtown has no development standards. I have no idea how downtown does not have a form based code in place and some sort of neighborhood review. The Downtown Neighborhood Association has no teeth. 

The name of the rooftop bar and ground level restaurant has been revealed.
Ground level restaurant: Switch List. They claim it's to honor the past history of the site but I can't seem to find out how "Switch List" has anything to do with the site.
Rooftop Bar: Eero's Penthouse Bar. This one will have a design aesthetic similar to Saarinen's design. 

Well, I wasn't yet able to completely nail down the pre-LaSalle history of the site to figure out where the "Switch List" name comes from. But, here's a bit of info I was able to dig up so far from the 1875 Compton & Dry Topographical Survey.

Apparently the building at the corner of Olive and Broadway wasn't notable enough to make it on the legend. It's located between structures 73 and 74. It appears to be a small shop or business of some type.

Version 1 of the Mercantile Library is noted as structure 71, for reference. It was rebuilt in the 1890's as a taller, fireproof structure (Version 2), and then re-clad in the 1950's (Version 2.5). You can even see the signage on the side of the building in this drawing.

Structure 73 is the Evening Journal (which is technically part of Hotel Indigo now - the building that housed Paradowski Creative - 303 North Broadway). Structure 74 had a few tenants, but I think this is west of the LaSalle footprint.

Lastly, I believe the building in question can also be seen in the very last photo below, at the very far-left. I'm sure there are more images out there showing this corner a bit better. The Missouri Historical Society website is usually pretty handy, but the search function doesn't appear to be working for me at the moment.

As a fun aside, Henry Shaw's house is structure 81 - what is now the parking lot behind the Union Trust building.

Gotta get me a copy of that book some day. I know I can search it online, but I guess I'm just old fashioned. 

Did the LaSalle have any connections to railroads? I've found that a switch list is a document that tracked the movements of train cars. They've been replaced by computerized systems so most references to them online now are for the benefit of model railroaders who want to operate their trains in an historically accurate fashion.

Unfortunately the historic register nomination never mentions the occupants of the LaSalle Building: https://dnr.mo.gov/shpo/nps-nr/05001282.pdf
But this is from Page 9 of the PDF, the only mention of rail transport:

In December of 1880, Erastus Wells purchased a five-story building from Gotleib Conzelman on a lot measuring 28' x 102' at the northwest corner of Broadway and Olive Street for $ 113,000. Wells, pioneer promoter and owner of St. Louis's first street rail line, retained the building (soon to be known as the Wells Building) and later transferred it to his son and future mayor Rolla Wells. 

Tim wrote:As a fun aside, Henry Shaw's house is structure 81 - what is now the parking lot behind the Union Trust building.

Second fun fact: Shaw's house is still standing, just . . . elsewhere. And enlarged. His city house became the old administration building at the botanical garden. At some point they added a wing. (They also added a wing to his country house, which is the more famous of his two homes presently on the garden grounds.)