ST. LOUIS — A downtown hotel with an iconic mural that overlooks Highway 40 is slated for a $46 million renovation and rebranding.

Midas Hospitality has filed plans to turn the financially distressed Oyo Hotel, at Highway 40 and South 14th Street near Enterprise Center, into a 220-room Sheraton.

Condominiums, which take up three floors now, would remain.

The company is seeking 10 years of tax abatement, worth $2.7 million, to aid the project. St. Louis’ Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority is expected to review the request on Wednesday. 

The hotelier also plans to restore the top floor as an events space and turn another floor into Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy, a new brand that features fully furnished units akin to corporate housing that will target both business and leisure travelers. The downtown hotel would be the first in the country to feature the Bonvoy apartments, said Midas CEO and co-founder David Robert. 

The 1920s-era Oyo Hotel has been rebranded multiple times over the past two decades and has been in receivership for the past few years after its owner, Florida developer Joseph Gillespie III, filed for bankruptcy in 2019. 

Downtown hotels have experienced a slower recovery from the pandemic compared to the overall region as business travel, a key customer group, has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. The Last Hotel on Washington Avenue faced a battle between its two owners, and Hotel Indigo on Olive Street and the dual-branded Home2 Suites/Tru by Hilton on Locust Street were both placed in receivership this past year. 

Robert said his company — which is also the receiver for Hotel Indigo — was inspired by the civic leadership from the O’Loughlins, who remade Union Station, and the Taylors, which are co-owners of the new soccer team, and wanted to “step up” for the neighborhood. He expects his company will close on the purchase of the hotel at the end of the year. 

Midas plans to use private financing for the renovation. The project is expected to produce $350,000 in annual taxes during the abatement, an increase of its current total of $211,000. That figure is projected to grow to $850,000 after the abatement period ends, according to data from the St. Louis Development Corp., which staffs the LCRA. 

The building was erected in the 1920s to serve retailer J.C. Penney. It was later acquired by Edison Brothers Stores Inc., which in the 1980s commissioned an artist to design the murals, which feature themes from the 1904 World’s Fair in the trompe l’oeil architectural style. The designs were so realistic, according to reporting at the time, that pigeons tried to roost on the fake windowsills. 

Edison Brothers later went bankrupt. The Allright Parking Co. of Houston bought the warehouse and tried to raze it before the a city preservation board denied the company demolition permits. 

Hotel developer Donald Breckenridge, who redeveloped the Spanish Pavilion into a hotel, invested $54 million to turn it into a hotel and luxury condominium complex. Breckenridge lived in one of the condos until his death in 2005 at age 73. 

The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.