For the first time in months, Ellen Reid's Hotel DeMun in Clayton's DeMun neighborhood is taking a step forward. The hotel, which involves converting two residential buildings into a boutique hotel, with a new addition on the east side of the property, is being designed by Core10 Architects.
The current building is home to 14 apartments and businesses such as Barrio Restaurant and Clementine's Ice Cream. An additional 4 retail bays call the property home. Under the renovation plans, a total of 24 hotel rooms will replace the apartments and be built in the new addition. All retail bays are maintained, save for one that fronts North Rosebury. That one will be demolished and shifted to front South Rosebury while the hotel lobby will face North Rosebury. Both the lobby and the new retail bay are part of the new addition, which will include 4 alley-side parking spaces, an elevator and rooftop deck capable of holding 49 people.
It's unclear if the latest plans include building the lobby bar called, "The Library". That space was previously billed as a cozy hideaway by night, but a neighborhood cafe by day with a curated menu from selected bakeries, butchers, and more. If still planned, "The Library" will apparently reside on the North Rosebury Avenue side of Hotel DeMun.
The latest stop in the approval process for Hotel DeMun is hopeful approval for a PUD (planned unit development) from the City of Clayton. Per Clayton's "Pending Applications" page, the hearing for the PUD has not yet been set. The latest plan set for Hotel DeMun was uploaded on December 19th, nearly one year after the initial application was made.
I'll continue following this development as it's an interesting one for one of St. Louis's vibrant neighborhood commercial corridors.
