ST. LOUIS — The owner of downtown’s long defunct Millennium Hotel has selected commercial real estate firm JLL to spearhead efforts to sell the property.
JLL Managing Director Dave Biales said he will conduct tours with interested buyers and announce an official date for when they can submit bids. The owner will then review offers and select finalists for buyer interviews.
“Millennium Hotel is an important landmark within the city, and this is a great opportunity to restore its significance within downtown,” Biales said in a statement. “Our goal is to identify a reputable buyer that will infuse new energy and resources into the property while nodding to the hotel’s history.”
City Hall had recently targeted the property, which has been closed since 2014, for eminent domain. The hotel is owned by Singapore-based real estate corporation City Developments Limited and operated by its subsidiary Millennium Hotels & Resorts.
People are also reading…
Benedict Ng, a representative for Millennium, said in a statement that the company doesn’t believe that eminent domain is “the best approach for the city.”
He argued the company would be able to get a better sales price without St. Louis officials seizing the property, which would boost property values downtown. He said the company spends $2 million a year on security and maintenance.
Ng blamed COVID-19 for the company’s struggle to find a buyer. But the company did not respond to questions about its efforts to sell or redevelop the hotel in the six years before the pandemic started.
“The Millennium Hotels and Resorts team is actively attempting to work with the city to resolve this issue so it can be a win-win for everyone, and we look forward to executing next steps,” Ng said in the statement.
No sales price was disclosed. The assessor’s office has appraised the hotel, two blocks from Busch Stadium, at $8.1 million, according to city records.
JLL’s announcement follows the property’s appearance on commercial real estate website LoopNet last week in which few details were provided. Biales’ contact now appears on the listing.
The hotel, at 200 South Fourth Street, occupies prime real estate along the Mississippi riverfront. In 2013, the hotel closed around 600 rooms for renovation but shut down just a year later.
At 28 stories and 780 rooms, Millennium Hotel was once the largest in St. Louis and was noted for its rotating restaurant on the top floor. It opened in 1969 as Stouffer’s Riverfront and later carried the Clarion and Regal Riverfront names.