Building Spotlight: The Railway Exchange Building

Sketch of the Railway Exchange Building in Downtown St. Louis. Available here

Railway Exchange Building History

There are buildings that define a skyline — and then there are buildings that define an era. The Railway Exchange Building in downtown St. Louis is both.

Built in 1913, the 21-story, 1.2 million-square-foot terra-cotta tower filled a full city block and embodied the commercial peak of the region. Designed by Mauran, Russell & Crowell, it carried the optimism of a city that once imagined itself the economic capital of the interior United States. A brand-new retail venture — Famous‑Barr — opened inside on the first day, anchoring the lower floors. Above, railroads, major corporations and professional offices filled the upper floors.

For nearly a century, the building stood as a signature of downtown: retail on the ground, offices above, elevators gliding, holiday windows glowing. But when the downtown Macy’s closed in 2013, the building went dark — and the question of what to do with such a massive landmark has lingered ever since.

A Building Too Big to Fail

When the Railway Exchange was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, the recognition underscored its architectural and cultural significance — but did little to guarantee its future purpose.

Over the last decade the story has shifted from possibility to urgency, as redevelopment ambitions collided with market realities, finance hurdles and the building’s sheer scale. The property has been at the center of multiple studies, city initiatives and headlines about downtown St. Louis’s struggles.

In 2015, the local chapter of the Urban Land Institute – St. Louis (ULI StL) convened a Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) to imagine a viable mix of uses for the building: residential, hotel, office, and retail. Their report acknowledged the building’s challenges — enormous floor plates, dated systems, shifting downtown dynamics — and recommended a “healthy-place” approach combining uses and activating street frontages.

Later press reflected ambitious but uncertain plans. In 2016, NextSTL reported the building was under contract to Florida-based Hudson Holdings with mixed-use redevelopment in mind.  In 2017 the story noted that redevelopment costs were expected to top $250 million, with early projections of around 600 apartments, plus retail and office space.

But redevelopment did not proceed as planned. Instead, vacancy deepened. In 2024 the city announced that it would pursue acquiring the building through eminent domain if necessary, citing safety hazards, liens and neglect.

The City of St. Louis’ Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA) filed court papers in October 2024.  In January 2025 a commissioners’ report priced the property at $4.75 million (well below prior appraisals) as part of the eminent-domain case.  In March 2025, the city purchased the block of parcels just south of the building (parking garage + lots) for about $2.6 million, identifying preparation for full-site redevelopment. At the same time, the building was included in a broader study by the Brookings Institution about downtown office-to-residential conversions, as part of a narrative about St. Louis’s “doom-loop” in its downtown real-estate market.

Residential Future

The path forward is much clearer today than it was a decade ago — and the numbers tell that story.

Downtown St. Louis has added thousands of residents over the past 20 years, even as office demand has contracted. Residential occupancy remains far stronger than the commercial sector, and national research shows conversions of older office towers to apartments are among the most effective tools cities have to stabilize their cores.

That’s why nearly every credible proposal for the Railway Exchange Building centers on housing first.

• Roughly 600 residential units are feasible given the building’s scale and unique lightwell that allows units on the interior and exterior face of the building's floor plates. This single building could add an estimated 1200 residents. (22% of Downtown's current residential base).

• Ground-floor retail and services would support daily life.

• Amenity programs could occupy lower floors that don't have as much access to natural daylight.

• Select hotel and hospitality uses could complement — not overshadow — a resident-anchored program

• Structured parking and mobility partnerships can unlock the site for modern living without undermining walkability

  
  

The acquisition of the adjacent garage block only strengthens the likelihood of a mixed-use, housing-forward redevelopment that supports a more stable and vibrant downtown ecosystem.

The Railway Exchange Building helped define what downtown once was — a destination for retail and office employment. Its second act will likely define what downtown becomes next.