This story was originally published on October 26th on the old website.
The first hotel in 20 years in Downtown Clayton (Hampton Inn doesn't count) is eyeing a Spring 2019 start according to Andy Holloran of HomeBase Partners of Bozeman, Montana. The 12 floor, 196 room hotel will replace the former Clayton Police Headquarters on South Central Avenue with a modern building, that will include a public rooftop deck. The building will also be located a block North of Clayton's MetroLink stop, offering easy connections to everything the St. Louis region has to offer. The AC Hotel in Clayton is being designed by Denver based, Johnson Nathan Strohe, and aided in design by St. Louis based Trivers.
According to my previous reporting, the AC Hotel will be the third to fly under the brand in the St. Louis area with the other two being on York Avenue in Central West End and in the Jefferson Arms Building Downtown. The introduction of the AC Brand into St. Louis symbolizes Marriott's aggressive push to grow their portfolio in St. Louis. Marriott's push is being headed by Equis Hotels, HomeBase and a few others.
The AC Clayton Hotel will cost $45 million to build and will be built by the Keeley Companies. The project will start with the demolition of the old Police HQ in early 2019 main structure construction to begin around April 2019. Construction should be finished by the fall of 2020. My previous reporting is featured below.
12 Floor AC Hotel Unveiled for Former Clayton Police HQ: 2/8/18
After a gaff where I had to retract the story on the hotel project in Downtown Clayton, it has now been officially revealed, with a different design. The 12 floor AC Hotel will be built where the former Clayton Police HQ stands today. The design is quite interesting as it blends Brown and White with numerous glass pieces forming a unique design that we are starting to see more often in the region. But that is beside the point.
As we know, the AC Hotel will be situated on South Central in Clayton and will flow through to South Meramec on the opposite side. At 200 rooms, it will add a ton of space for visitors to come to Downtown Clayton. This means it will also add to the streetscape, there will be more people in Downtown Clayton to patronize the cafes and small shops that dot Clayton. If that is not enough, visitors can literally walk a block to the MetroLink station and board train that connects to numerous destinations such as Downtown, Central West End, Brentwood-Richmond Heights and the Airport. The system also connects to transit centers where people can take the bus thus getting to other destinations in the area.
Basically, the local economy will benefit some. Clayton itself will benefit a lot from the project. So it is a win-win situation!
The Developer of the project is Homebase, who is based in Montana. Homebase is also getting ready to build a 7 floor, 145 room AC Hotel by Marriott in Central West End. The contractor is Keeley Co. The hotel branding chosen for this project is a AC Hotel, as I stated earlier. Both are designed by Denver based Johnson Nathan Strohe (JNS). There is another AC Hotel in the works at the Jefferson Arms in Downtown. This goes to show that Marriott is expanding in St. Louis. Why is that important? Well, there are 13 Marriott Hotels that are either completed, proposed or currently under construction in the region at this time. This makes that number 14.
The local hotel market is also going strong with numerous other brands opening up in the region such as the regions first Aloft Hotel on Forest Park Avenue in Cortex and regions first Tru by Hilton out at the Streets of St. Charles. Furthermore, a Hotel Indigo is under construction in Downtown and an EVEN by Intercontinental is in the works for the Jefferson Connector Project at Locust and Jefferson. Local chain Drury has also opened a couple new locations. And of course, Loews is going to open up shop in 2019 at Ballpark Village. This proves there is strong demand for hotels in the area.
Back on track, when this AC Hotel is hopefully approved and gets underway late this year and wraps up sometime in 2020, it is safe to say that our market will have gone through one of the most significant building booms in a long time. Significant as in for better or for worse. Cost of this project? $45 Million. That is a solid investment for the region and adds to the growing Downtown Clayton area that is seeing multiple proposals and construction projects.
There will also be a rooftop bar in this project.