One City Center (St. Louis)
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One City Center (also called 600 Washington, St. Louis Centre, and sometimes spelled One City Centre) is an office tower complex and former
shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
. The 25-story office tower is the ninth-tallest habitable building in St. Louis at a height of . The mall was four stories with a green, white, and glass façade. When the mall opened in 1985, St. Louis Centre was the largest urban shopping mall in the United States, with over 150 stores with 20 restaurants in . The $95 million complex was originally to be developed by the May Company and called May Mall, but development for the mall was given to the
Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indian ...
. St. Louis Centre opened in 1985, with anchor stores
Famous-Barr The Famous-Barr Co. (originally Famous and Barr Co.) was a division of Macy's, Inc. (formerly Federated Department Stores). Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, in the Railway Exchange Building, it was the flagship store of The May Department Sto ...
at one end and
Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The ...
at the other. The anchor location of Famous-Barr was the company's flagship outlet and also contained that company's corporate offices, and the corporate headquarters of the May Company. The Dillard's location was once the flagship, and headquarters of
Stix, Baer and Fuller __NOTOC__ Stix, Baer and Fuller (sometimes called "Stix" or SBF or the Grand-Leader) was a department store chain in St. Louis, Missouri that operated from 1892 to 1984. Founders and History Originally called the Grand-Leader, the original centra ...
, with that chain being sold to Dillard's just as mall construction commenced. The mall was initially popular and featured national chain stores. As the 1990s progressed, the mall faced challenges with the redevelopment of the former Westroads Shopping Center into the St. Louis Galleria. By the mid-1990s, Dillard's converted its location into one of its clearance stores, and no longer carried regular day-to-day merchandise, this location closed for good in 2001. In 2006, the almost-vacant "
dead mall A dead mall (also known as a ghost mall, zombie mall, or abandoned mall) is a shopping mall with a high vacancy rate or a low consumer traffic level, or that is deteriorating in some manner. Many malls in North America are considered "dead ...
" closed, and was bought by The Pyramid Companies and was planned to be turned into
condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...
s and retail space, though the plan was never realized, as Pyramid closed in 2008 due to financial troubles. The mall was foreclosed in 2009 by lender
Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...
and later bought for $12.7 million by
Environmental Operations A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
. In 2009, the building was about 85% vacant, and other developers were trying to raise funding for a renovation of the mall. Plans included a $35 million renovation, turning much of the complex into parking space, as well as a $29 million project to attract tenants to the center's office tower. The project, led by investor Stacy Hastie, includes plans for local law firm Lewis, Rice & Fingersh and accounting firm
LarsonAllen LLP CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (known as CliftonLarsonAllen or CLA) is a professional services network and the eighth-largestMissouri Development Finance Board Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
had approved a $5 million loan for the project. In May 2010, work began to convert part of the building into a 750-car parking garage and retail/entertainment complex called Mercantile Exchange. The skybridges to the
Famous-Barr The Famous-Barr Co. (originally Famous and Barr Co.) was a division of Macy's, Inc. (formerly Federated Department Stores). Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, in the Railway Exchange Building, it was the flagship store of The May Department Sto ...
Railway Exchange Building (St. Louis) and the former
Stix, Baer and Fuller __NOTOC__ Stix, Baer and Fuller (sometimes called "Stix" or SBF or the Grand-Leader) was a department store chain in St. Louis, Missouri that operated from 1892 to 1984. Founders and History Originally called the Grand-Leader, the original centra ...
/
Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The ...
store (now referred to as The Laurel Building) have now been demolished to open up Washington and Locust streets.


References

{{St. Louis skyscrapers Skyscraper office buildings in St. Louis Shopping malls established in 1985 Defunct shopping malls in the United States Downtown St. Louis Buildings and structures in St. Louis 1985 establishments in Missouri