Deadline for City’s Arcade Building RFP is September 30

On July 28, the Land Clearance and Redevelopment Authority (LCRA) of the City of St. Louis issued an Request for Proposals for the historic Arcade Building at 812 Olive Street in downtown St. Louis. After a previous rehabilitation project undertaken by the Pyramid Companies collapsed, the Arcade Building ended up at foreclosure auction in April 2010. Environmental Operations Incorporated placed the winning bid, and sold the Arcade to LCRA for $2 million.

The ribbon cutting event hosted by the Pyramid Companies on May 31, 2007 featured an opera performance inside of the Arcade.

The deadline for responses to the RFP is September 30. LCRA wisely requires all proposals to follow the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, basic standards for retaining the historic character of buildings required by all historic rehab tax credit programs. The RFP can be found here.

Lynn Josse and Stacy Sone wrote the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Arcade Building; that document is online here.

The last major downtown development RFP issued by LCRA was issued in 2005 for rehabilitation of the Syndicate Trust Building at 915 Olive Street one block west. LoftWorks LLC, owned by Craig Heller, won that bid.