ST. LOUIS 鈥 Downtown鈥檚 former AT&T tower is hitting the auction block once again.
The long-vacant, 44-story property will on the online auction site Ten-X, marking the second time in two years. The starting bid is $2.5 million, roughly half of what its current owner, New York-based SomeraRoad Inc., paid it for last year.
The 1.4 million-square-foot tower, at 909 Chestnut Street, has been a long-standing albatross for St. 不良研究所导航网址. It is one of four major vacant buildings, including the Railway Exchange Building, Chemical Building and Millennium Hotel, that officials say are crucial to revitalizing downtown.
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The closest the property has come to a redevelopment ended earlier this year when local developer Advantes Group鈥檚 deal to buy it from SomeraRoad fell through. Advantes had a $300 million plan to transform the 44-story building into a 鈥渧ertical city鈥 with a hotel, apartments and office space. It had received broad political support, with historic tax credits and other local incentives.
Marketing materials for the AT&T tower tout the property as being offered at an 鈥渆xtreme discount鈥 relative to what it could cost to build new, including the range of incentives a prospective developer could receive.
The skyscraper was built in 1986 for Southwestern Bell Co. at a time when corporations wanted palatial headquarters and downtown St. 不良研究所导航网址 had more business.
In 2006, the company 鈥 by then AT&T 鈥 sold the tower to a real estate investment trust for $205 million and leased it back for its St. 不良研究所导航网址 workers.
But by 2017, with its headquarters in Texas and far fewer employees in downtown St. 不良研究所导航网址, AT&T had begun to move employees to other nearby buildings, leaving 909 Chestnut essentially empty. That same year, U.S. Bank sued the owner and foreclosed on the property.
The building languished in receivership for years, until SomeraRoad bought it last year for just $4.1 million. Bondholders at the time held about $107 million in debt on the building.
A representative for SomeraRoad did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
of commercial real estate firm CBRE is marketing the sale.