urbanSTL

Legislation to provide public subsidies for a downtown St. Louis hotel redevelopment advanced Wednesday after failing to move forward last month amid a dispute between the developer and a local union.

Midas Hospitality is seeking tax incentives to fund the renovation of the 266-room hotel inside the former Edison Brothers Building at 400 S. 14th St. downtown. The project is up for 10 years of 75% property tax abatement, estimated to amount to annual taxes due of $350,000 during the abatement and $850,000 afterward, according to city filings. Unite Here Local 74 wanted Midas to sign a neutrality agreement, pledging not to interfere if employees of the OYO Hotel, which is to become a Sheraton, seek to organize. Midas refused, saying that it was clear that if it agreed the union would seek more concessions, leading to questions before the Board of Aldermen's Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee, which last month declined to advance the legislation.
It again considered the legislation Wednesday, and voted 5-0 to advance it to the full Board of Aldermen.
Aldermen indicated they could not force Midas, via the legislation, to sign the neutrality agreement, as they're prevented by state law from doing so. They got reassurances Wednesday from Midas' CEO, David Robert, that he would not interfere in any push to unionize the future hotel's roughly 100 workers, including by hiring consultants.
But Robert again reiterated that he would not sign the neutrality agreement, calling it unnecessary since Midas has a good relationship with its employees and pays them above union-scale wages. And Robert emphasized that the roughly $50 million project would not move forward without the subsidies: "We only ask for what we need. If there's no abatement we're going to punt on the project," he said.

SouthCityJR wrote: ↑

Jan 19, 2024

What will happen to the residents of Mark Twain?  Sure hope this doesn’t end up adding a couple hundred more homeless people downtown.

eee123 wrote: ↑

Jan 28, 2024

The Le Meridien downtown is closed for a month or more. Anyone know what happened? Burst pipe or something?

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Jan 28, 2024

eee123 wrote: ↑

Jan 28, 2024

The Le Meridien downtown is closed for a month or more. Anyone know what happened? Burst pipe or something?

Yeah, entire lobby is ruined but work has started

dweebe wrote:I guess I missed when the Drury Inn by the Dome/Convention Center got downgraded to a Pear Tree Inn.

robertn42 wrote: ↑

Feb 09, 2024

Was downtown doing some work on our loft yesterday.  Took a long walk to check out the old neighborhood.  Enjoyed a great Cuban at Havana's and was really encouraged to see all the construction activity at the Jefferson Arms.  it will be great to see that building reactivated.  Conversely, it looks like the Last Hotel has fallen victim to their ownership issues.  I hope they can figure it out.
[img]file:///C:/Users/NiemietR/OneDrive%20-%20Bausch%20&%20Lomb,%20Inc/Pictures/JA.jpg[/img]

Tim wrote: ↑

Feb 09, 2024

Mark Twain Hotel Renderings: https://www.jtcampo.com/p-tapestry-st-louis

That being said, Campo has owned the Chemical Building for over 2 years and the ground floor is still unsecured and open to trespassers and looters. You'd think that they'd want to protect their 5M investment and try to keep it from going up in flames, but what do I know.