Downtown St. Louis parking garages under new ownership, renovations planned

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Two downtown parking garages near Kiener Plaza are under new local ownership, with plans to renovate the structures and fill vacant commercial space.

The Kiener East and West garages, which sit just north of Kiener Plaza and span two city blocks, were purchased by the Arch to Park Equity Fund in partnership with local investors. Together, the garages hold 2,300 parking spaces and 75,000 square feet of commercial space, but only 20% of that space is currently occupied.

New ownership, immediate changes

Dustin Allison, who leads the Arch to Park Equity Fund, said the visitor experience begins the moment someone steps out of their car.

“I grew up in St. Charles County, coming down for a ball game, if I park in a parking garage and I get out of my car and go to the elevator and it smells like beer and it’s not clean and it doesn’t feel good, then my whole experience downtown has kind of started downtown on a negative note,” Allison said. “We [want] the experience downtown, right when you get out of your car to be a positive one.”

Allison said some changes will happen immediately, including a new parking operator, security upgrades, additional personnel and camera installations.

“Some immediate security upgrades, additional personnel, adding some cameras immediately, over the next couple weeks, we’re working on some way finding contracts and painting and upping the cleanliness and overall aesthetic,” Allison said.

St. Louis Parking will serve as the new operator of the garages. Parking rates are not expected to increase in the immediate future.

Long-term vision for Chestnut Street

Allison outlined a longer-term goal for the ground-floor commercial space along Chestnut Street.

“My goal five years from now is if I have all my druthers right, we have the entire Chestnut streetscape populated with a very engaging set of vendors, whether they’re food service or other local vendors that are attracting folks downtown and keeping them here to spend their dollar,” Allison said.

Pops Pizza and Wings, located on the first floor of the West Garage at the corner of Sixth and Chestnut, is among the existing tenants. A representative of the restaurant said the change in ownership is welcome.

“It feels good to have new ownership, maybe they’ll do some new improvement, more people come down here, more businesses,” said Sandro Nijmeh, owner of Pops Pizza and Wings.

The new owners said they plan to share renderings and detailed plans for the revamped garages in the months ahead.