Bank takeover delays Union Station hotel work
Among the effects of a bank failure in Chicago is a delay in the multimillion-dollar renovation of the Marriott Hotel at Union Station in downtown St. Louis.
Owner Gus Cervetto of Chesterfield-based CB&E Construction Group says he pulled his dozen or so subcontractors off the job last Friday and won’t send them back to work until the financial picture becomes clear. Cervetto and Doug Dean, the Union Station Marriott’s general manager, agree the delay could be as brief as two weeks.
What led to the delay was the collapse of Park National Bank, which was among nine failed banks the FDIC took over on Oct. 30. U.S. Bank of Minneapolis entered into an agreement with the FDIC to assume the deposits and assets of all nine banks.
Cervetto says that before he gets a lot further into the $10 million to $12 million Marriott renovation project, he wants to make sure his subcontractors aren’t put in financial risk before the situation with U.S. Bank gets sorted out.
Dean said work wasn’t scheduled for this week, anyway, while material is delivered to the hotel. When work halted Friday, crews were redoing the hotel’s ballrooms. Dean and Cervetto said that when work resumes, the ballroom project will be wrapped up and crews will begin guest-room renovations.
Park National was part of FBOP Corp., which owns the station through Station Holdings LLC. Park National had bought the property from Regency Savings Bank of Oak Park, Ill., which in 2003 foreclosed on St. Louis Station Associates, the investment group behind the station’s renovation in the 1980s.
Marriott, which took over the hotel last December from Hyatt, plans to move the front desk to the atrium near the station’s western end, allowing greater use of the barrel-vaulted Great Hall for private events. Marriott also will extend its meeting and restaurant space into much of the retail area along the midway.
Dean said today he still plans to have the hotel redone by some time in 2011.
(1 votes, average: 2 out of 5)
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I’ve noticed that the union has been striking this worksite for months. Would have been nice to get that angle on this story.
Greg,
This story has nothing to do with the Unions. However, because I do work at the Station, I will tell you that union situation is simply a battle of the Unions, between the Carpenter’s Union Local 57 members performing electrical work, and IBEW feeling that they should be entitled to do the work. IBEW is trying to divert the real situation with their false signage.
Thanks for the insight Tony.
Maybe another Ball Park Village in the Making ????
Seems to me the IBEW has a beef. With all the unemployment these days I don’t blame the electricians for complaining about work they could be doing getting taken away from them.
If my home needs electrical work I’m not contacting a carpenter.
P.S. I’m not an electrician; I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn express last night:-)
Greyshark–this is nothing like Ballpark Village. Marriott has the money, and is committed to spend it. The lender has been taken over, and US Bank will finance, but the paperwork has to be processed.
Probably has to do with the age old battle between the two unions concerning the TV’s in a hotel room. Who mounts the tv, an electrician or a carpenter. Traditionally it’s been an electricians work, but I personally think the IBEW is whining too much. Get a real job, earn a fair (not way over) pay-check and work with your fellow worker. Way too much time is spent on job sites whining about who gets to do the work. Cause then the only people getting paid are the BA’s who have to sort it out. So the union dues go up to hire more people to police the work.
Unions are just like Washington, take, take, take, take…..
(gee, can you tell I am a former disgruntled IBEW member. Luckily I can think for myself and got out after enjoying my dues being spent on the 100 year celebration)
Kiel Opera House has always been the lifeline for Union Station
and its failed hotel. Always. Steve Miller knew that, Donna Laidlaw
knew that. A series of managers of the failed station and the failed hotel
know that.
Marriott..youre gonna lose your shirt on a second downtown property..
unkess you wake up.
Put $15 million on the table to be the Kiel Opera House hotel
and enjoy 100,000 roomnights a year on the low side. 100,000
as the Kiel Opera House Hotel.
Or…dont.
Golterman,
I appreciate your tenancity, however, you couldn’t be more wrong regarding the success of St. Louis Union Station depends on the Kiel’s re-opening. What is needed is a steady does of dense population, which will not occur. The current pop. according to city officials is 12K, and that’s not it, which is to the detriment of all retail in downtown St. Louis. Even with the events at Scott Trade are not enough. As far as the success of the hotel, you should know that in the past 3 - 4 years, the St. Louis Union hotel (when occupied by the Hyatt) had the highest ratings of all the hotels downtown. It’s only competition was the Westin, which is a smaller hotel. People have been drawn to it because it’s at St. Louis Union Station, and because it’s at a National Historic Landmark. Don’t get me wrong, I wish you well in your endevors, however, please get your facts straight when it comes to St. Louis Union Stations hotel. Failure is not and has not been the case.
Tony,
The IBEW is not trying to divert anything. They want you to boycott Marriott Union Station. They have hired an electrical contractor they pays their employees a far inferior wage and benefit package. Tony here is the irony for you since you think you know about the situation. The carpenters install the same boycotts on a business when the contractor they hire pays carpenters substandard wages for the work being performed. The contract the carpenters have signed with these so called electrical contractors is one that allows the workers to be paid sub standard wages and benifits for electrical worked performed. To me the carpenters leadership is the perfect definition of a hypocrite. It funny to listen to the bellman try to explain something they don’t have a clue about. Don’t know if thats you Tony, but now you have some facts not just the spin Doug Dean put on the situation.