ST. LOUIS—Core urban areas like Chicago have become well-knownfor attracting thousands of new residents to their respectivedowntowns, but the same phenomenon is occuring in many otherMidwest cities. The former CPI Building, a 270,000-square-foot 1912vintage office building in St. Louis, is just one of many suchproperties that will soon be converted to loft apartments.Revive Capital Development, LLC, a KansasCity-based investor, has just bought the nine-story building at1706 Washington Ave. from 1706 Washington LLC.John Warren, a vice president with the St. Louisoffice of JLL represented the seller. Thefinancial terms were not disclosed.

The vacant building was previously occupied by CPI for more than50 years and sits in the heart of the Washington Avenue Loftdistrict. The sale illustrates the changes taking place in thecity's office market, asdevelopers convert several older, class B buildings to hotel orresidential use.

"The property attracted considerable attention from investorsaround the Midwest and nationally,"Warren tells GlobeSt.com. "We also saw interest from severallocal investors who were focused on revitalization and being partof the next wave of downtown development. We had investors lookingat a variety of redevelopment options, from boutique hotel spaceto, what ultimately will occur on the site, multifamily units. Thisis a great opportunity to take a unique vintage building andrepurpose it to fit with the new dynamics of thismarket."