Developer buys Railway Exchange Building ... - Hudson Holdings
Developer buys Railway Exchange Building downtown By Tim Bryant St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Jan 31, 2017
A Florida-based developer completed on Tuesday its purchase of the century-old Railway Exchange Building in downtown St. Louis. The new owner is Hudson Holdings of Delray Beach, Fla. A real estate source said the company paid just above $20 million for the building that occupies an entire block in the middle of downtown. Hudson Holdings did not respond to requests for comments about its plans. The company put the building under contract last spring. Real estate sources in St. Louis have said the most likely redevelopment would include a mixture of residences, stores and, perhaps, a hotel. The Railway Exchange Building, built in 1914, has 21 floors and 1.2 million square feet of space. It was formerly the headquarters of the May Department Stores Co. and site of downtown’s Macy’s department store.
Macy’s, which previously was Famous-Barr’s flagship store, closed in 2013 and the building, at 601 Olive Street, has been vacant since Macy’s closed its offices there. The property includes the parking garage connected to the Railway Exchange by a fourth-floor skywalk over Olive.According to its website, Hudson Holdings says it emphasizes “downtown historic adaptive re-use” and tries to “energize older, transformational assets.” Its projects include the nearly century-old Huntington Building in downtown Cleveland, the Textile Building in Cincinnati, and the Mark Twain Building in downtown Kansas City. When it closed, Macy’s downtown St. Louis store occupied the Railway Exchange’s three lower floors, less than a third of the space the Famous-Barr store once filled. Real estate sources said a variety of first-floor retail uses might make sense now. Much of the rest of the building could be converted to residences, said the sources, adding that some upper floors could be redone as offices for startup firms. The 21-story building, clad in white terra cotta, covers the entire block bounded by Olive, Locust, Sixth and Seventh streets and was built to house the Wabash Railway and other railroad company offices. Developer Rick Yackey bought the Railway Exchange in 2010 but was unable to move forward with a redevelopment. Brandon Wappelhorst and Scott Savacool of Sansone Group represented the seller, Railway Exchange Owner LLC. JLL's John Warren handled the sale for Hudson Holdings.
Tim Bryant Tim Bryant is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Jan 31, 2017
A Florida-based developer completed on Tuesday its purchase of the century-old Railway Exchange Building in downtown St. Louis. The new owner is Hudson Holdings of Delray Beach, Fla. A real estate source said the company paid just above $20 million for the building that occupies an entire block in the middle of downtown. Hudson Holdings did not respond to requests for comments about its plans. The company put the building under contract last spring. Real estate sources in St. Louis have said the most likely redevelopment would include a mixture of residences, stores and, perhaps, a hotel. The Railway Exchange Building, built in 1914, has 21 floors and 1.2 million square feet of space. It was formerly the headquarters of the May Department Stores Co. and site of downtown’s Macy’s department store.
Macy’s, which previously was Famous-Barr’s flagship store, closed in 2013 and the building, at 601 Olive Street, has been vacant since Macy’s closed its offices there. The property includes the parking garage connected to the Railway Exchange by a fourth-floor skywalk over Olive.According to its website, Hudson Holdings says it emphasizes “downtown historic adaptive re-use” and tries to “energize older, transformational assets.” Its projects include the nearly century-old Huntington Building in downtown Cleveland, the Textile Building in Cincinnati, and the Mark Twain Building in downtown Kansas City. When it closed, Macy’s downtown St. Louis store occupied the Railway Exchange’s three lower floors, less than a third of the space the Famous-Barr store once filled. Real estate sources said a variety of first-floor retail uses might make sense now. Much of the rest of the building could be converted to residences, said the sources, adding that some upper floors could be redone as offices for startup firms. The 21-story building, clad in white terra cotta, covers the entire block bounded by Olive, Locust, Sixth and Seventh streets and was built to house the Wabash Railway and other railroad company offices. Developer Rick Yackey bought the Railway Exchange in 2010 but was unable to move forward with a redevelopment. Brandon Wappelhorst and Scott Savacool of Sansone Group represented the seller, Railway Exchange Owner LLC. JLL's John Warren handled the sale for Hudson Holdings.
Tim Bryant Tim Bryant is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
