Does anyone know what is going on with and in the WS "hotel" buidling?
Not a whole lot. I have friends that live there (you can rent) and it's probably one of the worst run buildings in the area. They had to be moved into a different apartment because the wind storms this summer tore up the roof. They lived in the same place for a couple weeks after the storm though and contacted management everyday because there were leaks everywhere and all management did for those 2 weeks was give them buckets. The bar in the ground floor is closed for good, I think. Shady characters are always hanging out in and around the lobby. Most of the time there is nobody at the welcome desk and you can walk right in. Alot of wasted potential, IMO.
"Hotel" is too nice of a word. Unless someone steps in and fixes the place up, looks like its bound to be a flop house like the Mark Twain but with fewer pedophiles.
Take a look at the horror stories called reviews on sites like Trip Advisor and you can see that this place should have been closed long ago. I feel sorry for anyone that stays there on their trip. Such a poor impression of the city.
Take a look at the horror stories called reviews on sites like Trip Advisor and you can see that this place should have been closed long ago. I feel sorry for anyone that stays there on their trip. Such a poor impression of the city.
I feel terrible for anyone who has had the misfortune of staying at that dump.
Yeah, I've always thought the place had a creepy feeling to it--like a ghost ship or something. After reading those reviews, it really does seem as if no one really runs that place. I've never heard of an expensive flop house, but you know what they say.
When this place first opened, I remember being excited. What a shame, what a waste.
When this place first opened, I remember being excited. What a shame, what a waste.
- 6,775
Isn't the developer (Stallings?) in prison or headed there?
I think he's in prison now.
It seems like someone from the city should be checking to see if the place has all it's p's and q's in order to be open for whatever it's open for.
I wonder what happened to people who purchased a condo in there????
It seems like someone from the city should be checking to see if the place has all it's p's and q's in order to be open for whatever it's open for.
I wonder what happened to people who purchased a condo in there????
- 10K
All the stories of various "stains" in the hotel rooms really freak me out. It would be so nice to at least have a new restaurant on the first floor there - so much potential.
I still remember that short period about 3 years ago where the bar/restaurant was the coolest place to hit in the city. Had an excellent dinner there one night.
Amazing to see this place take such a hard and quick fall.
Amazing to see this place take such a hard and quick fall.
- 6,775
dweebe wrote:I still remember that short period about 3 years ago where the bar/restaurant was the coolest place to hit in the city. Had an excellent dinner there one night.
Amazing to see this place take such a hard and quick fall.
Was that the bar that had beds in it? If so, I think it was pretty predictable that it would fail (independent of the failure of the building as a whole).
Wasn't that place called Mandarin Bay or something? God I hated being dragged there by the ex.
I'm pretty sure the current chef at the Tuxedo Room was one of the successful-but-very-short-lived chefs in that space (the other being Richard Perry).
bonwich wrote:I'm pretty sure the current chef at the Tuxedo Room was one of the successful-but-very-short-lived chefs in that space (the other being Richard Perry).
I must have hit it at just the right time.
This is ridiculous. They can't be making any money here, so why don't they just sell the place to a real hotel operator with experience. So much potential here.
As mentioned earlier, this place used to be nice. Had a friend of a friend who stayed there who was really wowed by it a number of years ago, but it really hasn't been maintained.
They used to have a really classy operation on the first floor. A 1950s themed supper club with cuban food and rat pack type singer. I remember going and there was a small but classy coud and the space looked great. It was nice to have somewhere downtown to go dressed up, like after a formal event or something. Ahh, but alas...
As mentioned earlier, this place used to be nice. Had a friend of a friend who stayed there who was really wowed by it a number of years ago, but it really hasn't been maintained.
They used to have a really classy operation on the first floor. A 1950s themed supper club with cuban food and rat pack type singer. I remember going and there was a small but classy coud and the space looked great. It was nice to have somewhere downtown to go dressed up, like after a formal event or something. Ahh, but alas...
Interesting this should be posted here - I just walked by the location and the "cool" orange lighted wall in the once "ultra shiek" lobby is now covered up with plywood and the once "mood lighting" of the lobby is replaced with bright halogen lights and the place looks like The Mark Twain. Gross! What a shame... not sure what really happened to this place and why it happened to this place. Their website is still up and running --- sadly!
www.wshotel.net
Any information on who owns the joint and what is the deal here?
More reviews from Yahoo travel;
Look how they were good in August 05 and to what they are now!
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-reviews-33483 ... PZZe3iphQB
Interesting enough too - a room online booking right now starts at 149.00 a night - WHAT are they smoking!?
INTERESTING ARTICLE:
Hotel Developer William S. Stallings Files Bankruptcy; Owes
$13.3 million on Failed WS Hotel in Downtown St. Louis
By Peter Shinkle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Sep. 8, 2005 - William S. Stallings, who helped revamp the Chase Park Plaza hotel in St. Louis and later was convicted in unrelated fraud cases, has filed for bankruptcy. He listed $5 million in assets and $35 million in liabilities.
Stallings, who owns the real estate firm W.S. Stallings Corp., said earlier this year that he was managing shopping centers and other commercial properties in north St. Louis County.
Yet, debts from the failed WS Hotel, which he opened in a historic building at 400 Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis, have taken their toll. In filing for bankruptcy Aug. 31, he listed a $13.3 million debt owed to Western United Life Assurance Co. for that hotel -- a debt he personally guaranteed -- as the largest claim he faces.
Western United foreclosed on the hotel last fall. Another creditor, GMAC, won a $615,000 judgment in April against Stallings and his companies for defaulting on a lease of furnishings for the hotel.
The GMAC loan also was the source of some of Stallings' woes with the criminal justice system. In March 2004, he pleaded guilty in federal court in St. Louis to one count of wire fraud, admitting he violated the terms of the loan by taking about $66,000 worth of exercise equipment from the hotel to his Ladue home. He was sentenced to two months in prison.
In an earlier case, Stallings pleaded guilty in 2000 to defrauding Southwest Bank in a real estate deal that caused the bank to take a loss of $435,301.
Stallings, 42, grew up in St. Louis County. He played professional soccer for the St. Louis Steamers in the 1980s and was an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms before becoming a developer.
In the mid-1990s, he teamed with a partner to redevelop the Chase Park Plaza, a hotel in the Central West End that had been closed for about a decade. After new investors backed the project, Stallings sold his interest.
In the bankruptcy filing, Stallings said he has as many as 200 creditors. Among them is the Internal Revenue Service, which claims it is owed $5.8 million in income tax and other obligations, the filing shows.
Stallings also reports owing lenders a total of $1.6 million on his home on Log Cabin Lane in Ladue, which he said has a market value of $900,000.
He and his attorney, Michael Becker, could not be reached for comment.
Stallings filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors under Chapter 7, which permits an individual to be discharged from his debts after certain assets have been liquidated. The bankruptcy court set a hearing for Oct. 4, so creditors can learn about the bankruptcy.
www.wshotel.net
Any information on who owns the joint and what is the deal here?
More reviews from Yahoo travel;
Look how they were good in August 05 and to what they are now!
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-reviews-33483 ... PZZe3iphQB
Interesting enough too - a room online booking right now starts at 149.00 a night - WHAT are they smoking!?
INTERESTING ARTICLE:
Hotel Developer William S. Stallings Files Bankruptcy; Owes
$13.3 million on Failed WS Hotel in Downtown St. Louis
By Peter Shinkle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Sep. 8, 2005 - William S. Stallings, who helped revamp the Chase Park Plaza hotel in St. Louis and later was convicted in unrelated fraud cases, has filed for bankruptcy. He listed $5 million in assets and $35 million in liabilities.
Stallings, who owns the real estate firm W.S. Stallings Corp., said earlier this year that he was managing shopping centers and other commercial properties in north St. Louis County.
Yet, debts from the failed WS Hotel, which he opened in a historic building at 400 Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis, have taken their toll. In filing for bankruptcy Aug. 31, he listed a $13.3 million debt owed to Western United Life Assurance Co. for that hotel -- a debt he personally guaranteed -- as the largest claim he faces.
Western United foreclosed on the hotel last fall. Another creditor, GMAC, won a $615,000 judgment in April against Stallings and his companies for defaulting on a lease of furnishings for the hotel.
The GMAC loan also was the source of some of Stallings' woes with the criminal justice system. In March 2004, he pleaded guilty in federal court in St. Louis to one count of wire fraud, admitting he violated the terms of the loan by taking about $66,000 worth of exercise equipment from the hotel to his Ladue home. He was sentenced to two months in prison.
In an earlier case, Stallings pleaded guilty in 2000 to defrauding Southwest Bank in a real estate deal that caused the bank to take a loss of $435,301.
Stallings, 42, grew up in St. Louis County. He played professional soccer for the St. Louis Steamers in the 1980s and was an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms before becoming a developer.
In the mid-1990s, he teamed with a partner to redevelop the Chase Park Plaza, a hotel in the Central West End that had been closed for about a decade. After new investors backed the project, Stallings sold his interest.
In the bankruptcy filing, Stallings said he has as many as 200 creditors. Among them is the Internal Revenue Service, which claims it is owed $5.8 million in income tax and other obligations, the filing shows.
Stallings also reports owing lenders a total of $1.6 million on his home on Log Cabin Lane in Ladue, which he said has a market value of $900,000.
He and his attorney, Michael Becker, could not be reached for comment.
Stallings filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors under Chapter 7, which permits an individual to be discharged from his debts after certain assets have been liquidated. The bankruptcy court set a hearing for Oct. 4, so creditors can learn about the bankruptcy.
What a disaster. My wife and I almost stayed there for our anniversary. Glad we didn't!
The website says the hotel is in Greenwich Village in New York City.
- 5,433
matguy70 wrote:Interesting enough too - a room online booking right now starts at 149.00 a night - WHAT are they smoking!?
Are there hourly rates as well?
- 622
I seem to remember a long article in the RFT a few years back about this guy. Not sure though, but it certainly detailed his rise to prominence and then fall.
I'm going to play the cynic and quote Judge Judy. "Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining." This place has tell tale signs of a front for something - probably illegal. Any undercover vice cops out there reading this?
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Matt wrote:I'm going to play the cynic and quote Judge Judy. "Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining." This place has tell tale signs of a front for something - probably illegal. Any undercover vice cops out there reading this?
You're a few years too late. The undercover cops knew about this years ago. That's why he went to jail.
- 11K
BTW - nice work Matt, or should I say "Benedict"? The WS was a front for urbanstlouis.com! Do you think this board became all glitzy through shear willpower!?! It takes $$$$$$.