ST. LOUIS—MLK Real Estate Capital recently arranged $19.7 million in bridge financing for Hudson Holdings on its acquisition of the Railway Exchange Building, a 21 floor, 1.2 million square foot vacant office building in the heart of downtown St. Louis. The Delray Beach, FL-based developer specializes in transforming historic structures, and its vision for the Railway Exchange, built in 1914, includes luxury residences, office space and some new retail. The lower levels were once home to the Famous-Barr department store, an iconic name in St. Louis retail, later purchased by Macy's, which shut down its store in 2013.

Hudson Holdings has recently purchased several historic Midwest buildings at affordable prices. It picked up the one million square foot Huntington Building in Cleveland for about $22 million, for example, and plans a similar transformation into apartments, offices, a hotel and retail. And other investors have bought and restored several historic structures in downtown St. Louis including the 538,000 square foot Arcade Building, and 1501 Washington Ave., a 10-story, 140,000 square foot building that new owner Fe Equus plans to convert into a 140-room boutique hotel. The transactions are all signs that a wide array developers now see the older sections of many Midwest CBDs as places attractive to millennials, start-up firms and residents that want to experience downtown living.