Downtown St. Louis Getting Another Boutique Hotel

The former HQ of a shoe company will soon get a makeover and become the city’s latest boutique hotel.

ST. LOUIS—Gateway cities are not the only ones that have seen interest in their older buildings soar. IBC Investors, LLC just sold 1501 Washington Ave., a 10-story, 140,000 square-foot building in the Washington Ave. Loft District of downtown St. Louis, and the new owner Fe Equus plans to convert the 105-year-old structure into a 140-room boutique hotel. This will not be a departure for the Milwaukee-based development firm, which transformed a century-old warehouse building in its hometown into the Iron Horse, a boutique hotel that has won numerous awards.

John Warren, a vice president in the St. Louis office of JLL, represented the IBC Investors in the transaction. This is the second historic building Warren has sold in the district in the past month. Financial terms were not disclosed. Aries Capital is the investment partner working with Fe Equus on this development.