St. Louis firms file Heer's plans

In written proposals submitted to the city March 19, Restoration St. Louis and McGowan|Walsh each laid out their visions for the former department store on Park Central Square.

Both firms want to convert the seven-story building – shuttered in 1995 after the store went out of business – into a multifaceted urban epicenter comprising condominiums, offices, restaurants, retail shops and a banquet hall.

But what’s most interesting about the proposals isn’t their similarities; it’s what sets them apart.

Reinventing Heer’s

For Restoration St. Louis, distinctions include a basement bowling alley and a contractual agreement to purchase and renovate the Woodruff and McDaniel buildings on Park Central East if the firm is chosen to redevelop Heer’s.

McGowan|Walsh, on the other hand, has pitched an alternate plan that would replace condos on floors two through six with an upscale, loft-style hotel overlooking a spruced-up city square. A Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood Restaurant has signed on as the ground-floor tenant.

Mike Shannon’s co-owner Pat Shannon said the three-star restaurant would have a “sophisticated sports atmosphere” with an upscale sports bar and a private area for fine dining, much like its flagship counterpart one block north of Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

“Obviously with the tie (between) the St. Louis Cardinals and the Springfield Cardinals, we definitely felt Springfield was a possible expansion city for Mike Shannon’s,” she said.

Another noteworthy difference: Restoration St. Louis prefers placement of a banquet hall on the Heer’s lower levels for practical reasons while McGowan|Walsh foresees banquet space taking shape in the building’s top floors, which would include a newly constructed all-glass eighth story with a walk-out viewing deck.

The proposals have city officials reinvigorated about a project that ran into major delays last year when previous developer Vaughn Prost, of Jefferson City, missed a series of financing deadlines and relinquished control of Heer’s when faced with foreclosure. Prost recently surprised the city when he elected not to resubmit a Heer’s proposal.

“We did not nudge him one way or the other,” said Mary Lilly Smith, the city’s economic development director. “We treated him just like the other (developers).”

Both McGowan|Walsh and Restoration St. Louis have indicated that they could purchase the property, acquire a construction loan and renovate Heer’s by late 2008.

“I like that,” Smith said. “And I think the folks downtown will like it, too.”

The city hopes to choose one of the firms this spring, she added.

Dissecting the differences

While both developers favor a mixed-use concept for Heer’s, their ideas on how to divvy up the building’s 156,000 square feet are conspicuously different.

Both plans call for converting the building’s mid-section into roughly 40 residential units, but McGowan|Walsh plans to sell its lofts while Restoration St. Louis would offer a mix of leased and for-sale lofts.

Both firms have extensive experience in renovating historic buildings into posh urban living spaces and utilizing myriad tax credits that make the projects possible.

Restoration St. Louis has completed numerous projects in St. Louis, where its $200 million résumé includes the Coronado Hotel, former Moolah Shrine Temple and Loop Lofts.

McGowan|Walsh has spearheaded projects in Kansas City, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Cleveland, representing investment of more than $800 million.

The firm listed its work on the Cupples Warehouse complex and Windows Lofts in St. Louis and the Piper Lofts in Kansas City as mixed-use projects with large residential components.

Though the McGowan|Walsh plan originally called for lofts, principal Kevin McGowan said his firm would prefer to build an all-suite hotel – possibly a Hilton Homewood Suites – with about 70 rooms at a nightly rate of $140 to $150.

Regardless of whether Heer’s has lofts or a hotel, McGowan said the city must address the unremarkable nature of Park Central Square.

“It is the single-most critical piece to our getting involved in the Heer’s development,” he said. “Our project is going to put a lot of people on that square. I can’t sell condos with that square looking like it looks. Heer’s is … the key to getting the square done.”

A banquet hall is another commonality in both plans, but its location differs.

McGowan contends the facility should be at the top of Heer’s versus the ground level as proposed by Restoration St. Louis.

“I’d rather go to an event with a view of the universe than an event in the basement,” McGowan said.

But Restoration St. Louis principals Amy and Amrit Gill said the ground-level banquet hall in their Coronado project works well for several reasons, including access for elderly guests, and they would expect the same at Heer’s.

“You want to make it as easy as possible on the people that are coming there to enjoy their time there,” Amy Gill said. “And it’s really hard to get people up there when you have two elevators and an event for 400 people.”

Other similarities in the plans include limited office space on the lower levels, a tower observatory and rooftop amenities, such as a pool, garden and fitness center, above the building’s three-story northern addition. Amy Gill said she wasn’t surprised by the similarities in the proposals.

“We’ve been doing this a long time,” she said. “We actually know McGowan|Walsh. It’s kind of like building a car – wheels, steering wheel. Trim and the engine – that’s what you need to look at.”

Bigger than one building

The Gills said their proposal sets itself apart from – and above – the competition with an offer to purchase and refurbish the Woodruff and McDaniel buildings.

The Gills are prepared to buy the buildings from owner Brett Loethen and convert the combined 200,000 square feet into residential condos and loft apartments, Amy Gill said.

Renovating all three buildings and managing the properties creates a “critical mass” that makes the multi-pronged project financially feasible, according to the Gills’ proposal. “Heer’s is not big enough to support a really good management team, maintenance staff, leasing/sales staff,” Amy Gill said. “With just one building, we can’t give them the kind of service we want to give them. But with three buildings, we can give them the same level of service that we can give in St. Louis. That’s what turned the corner for us.”

Loethen said he has a “solid offer” from the Gills to buy the buildings, which he has been interested in rehabilitating since he acquired them from Warren Davis Properties in 2002.

“It would be a huge boost … for the economy and for the whole structure of downtown,” Loethen said, adding that he has other prospective buyers if the city doesn’t select the Gills.

One of those buyers may very well be McGowan|Walsh, which has also expressed interest in taking control of the buildings.

McGowan said Loethen contacted his firm late last year after developers interested in the Heer’s project presented their concepts to city staff in person.

Amy Gill said she’s excited about the opportunity to renovate the buildings, especially the Woodruff.

“The Woodruff could be so glamorous,” she said, noting that the project would likely be the most difficult of the three from a developer’s standpoint. “It’s been kind of butchered. … So it may take us a little longer, because we have to figure out what’s under that blue stuff.”

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