The restoration of the Continental Building in Grand Center may have captured the public’s eye during the summer, but another nearby building is making a similar comeback. Plans have recently been announced to renovate the Coronado Hotel-located at the corner of Spring and Lindell-which has remained vacant for more than 15 years.
Sterling Properties sold the 300,000-square foot building and nearby Lindell Towers to Amrit and Amy Gill for $4.2 million in February. The Gills are undertaking a $27 million plan to renovate the hotel famed for its illustrious past.
Preliminary plans for the renovation include two restaurants and a patio caf?, a convenience store, a fitness center, a parking garage, banquet facilities and rooftop pool. The 15-story tower, added to the hotel during the 1930s, will be converted to include single, double and triple bedroom apartments, designed specifically for student housing.
Plans also include converting the top floor of the tower to four penthouse lofts more appropriate for faculty and staff.
According to an article printed Wednesday in the St. Louis Business Journal, the Gills wanted to provide student housing because of the difficulty that Amrit Gill had in finding housing when he was a student at nearby Washington University.
“Bringing more retail into the area should definitely have a positive impact on the area and is a priority of the University,” said Kathleen Brady, vice president of facilities management and civic affairs.
After acquiring the Coronado Hotel and Lindell Towers, the Gills had met with representatives from Saint Louis University. “We encouraged Mr. Gill to look into converting one tower of the Coronado complex into condominiums or a combination of hotel and condominiums. There has been interest expressed in condominiums in this area, and there is no hotel within walking distance of the Frost Campus.”
Built in 1925, the Coronado was named after the Spanish explorer Francesco Vasquez de Coronado. Renowned jazz performers, including Duke Ellington, Jimmy Blanton and Bix Beiderbecke, have performed on the Coronado stage.
During its golden years, the Coronado Hotel housed such famous guests as Queen Marie of Romania, Charles Lindbergh and, according to local legend, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Between 1947 and 1963, the Coronado Hotel was owned by the Sheraton Company.
In 1964, Saint Louis University bought the hotel and used it as a residence hall for the divinity school.
SLU eventually sold the property in the mid-1980s. The local theatrical group City Players performed in a ground-level theatre during the 1990s, but the building has remained mainly vacant. The Coronado Hotel is recognized on the National Register of Historic Buildings.
