ST. LOUIS — The city of St. Louis has condemned and boarded up the historic Railway Exchange building downtown in a bid to encourage its out-of-state owner to maintain the property.
After the city was granted an emergency condemnation Jan. 4, police officers swept the entire 1.2 million-square-foot building at 615 Olive St. Wednesday, forcing four or five people who were apparently living inside to leave before the city boarded it up. Sweeps over the past week or two have removed 10 to 20 people from inside the building, officials said.
City lawyers have been reaching out to Florida-based Hudson Holdings, which owns the building through the legal entity HH St. Louis Railway LP. Hudson’s $300 million redevelopment of the long-vacant building, first proposed in 2017, later fell through, leaving the property saddled with mechanics liens and legal battles that have gone on for years. A judge last year awarded four contractors $3.8 million and attorneys’ fees, which are still being discussed by the court.
A New York developer considered buying and redeveloping the building last year, but ultimately opted against it. As part of that redevelopment plan, the city sought eminent domain over the building, parking garage and some of the neighboring buildings in order to clear title issues for redevelopment.
The city took action to board up the historic property after years of keeping an eye on it, with city inspectors surveying it and collecting tips on the building’s condition from police and employees of the problem properties unit. There wasn’t a particular tipping point that led to the condemnation, but thefts from inside had been an ongoing issue, officials said.
“It reached a point to where we couldn’t voluntarily keep people out,” said Ed Ware, a manager with the city's Building Division.
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