ST. LOUIS — A new Grand Center concert venue proposed by the developer behind City Foundry and the operator of the Old Rock House is moving ahead after a delay of several years.
Developers are in the process of seeking city approvals for the new concert hall, called The Sovereign, that would be built in a historic venue at 3300 Washington Blvd.
The venue was originally proposed in 2019 as a collaboration of City Foundry owner and developer Steve Smith, CEO of the Lawrence Group and development firm New + Found, and Old Rock House managing partner Tim Weber.
At the time, the venue was expected to open in 2021.
Instead, work is moving ahead now to rehab the space, a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places that once housed the Beckley-Ralston Co. auto dealership. The project has federal and state historic tax credits, Lawrence Group architect Michael Flynn said Wednesday at a St. Louis Board of Adjustment hearing.
“It’s a really neat turn-of-the-century building,” with remnants of its time as an auto dealership such as a large garage door across the front of the building, Flynn said. “And it retains a lot of the original character of that era.”
Click here for the full story from the St. Louis Business Journal.
