ST. LOUIS • The Kiel Opera House got a new start Monday. A new name, too.
The grand Art Deco concert hall at 14th and Market streets will be rechristened the Peabody Opera House, news that was the highlight of a ceremony to officially kick off its long-awaited renovation.
Peabody Energy Corp. paid an undisclosed sum to buy naming rights to the building, part of a $78.7 million financing package that closed last month after more than a year spent selling bonds and hammering out terms. Work has already begun on restoring the historic hall, which opened in 1934 but hosted its last concert in 1991.
On Monday, the "Peabody" opened its doors to dozens of local dignitaries, who donned hard hats and sat in its marble-pillared Grand Hall to hear from Blues owner Dave Checketts, developers Chris and Joe McKee, and the rest of the group behind the project.
They described a long, complex process of raising money and clearing legal hurdles, a process expected to result in a grand opening night 14 months from now, in the fall of 2011. The building, Checketts said, will go from a "dark, dingy and depressing" eyesore to a big new bright light in a key stretch of downtown.
"This was shouting out to all of us to reopen it," he said.
When they do, Checketts & Co. plan to host 264 events in 2012. Of those, 135 will be a mix of concerts, comedy, touring Broadway shows and family events in the 3,500-seat main theater. The rest will be in three of four side theaters. One of those will be rented at a low cost to local drama and music troupes, said Chris McKee, while two others will host meetings, social events and weddings. The fourth will become a VIP lounge.
The hall also got a new logo, with a '30s Art Deco look and built around a black bear that pays homage to the limestone sculptures on either side of the building's main entrance. It was unveiled, along with the new name, on Monday.
Peabody's involvement has been in the works for about a year. Terms of the naming rights contract were not disclosed, but chief executive Greg Boyce said it was a good fit for his company.
"Peabody is all about energy, and we're all about creativity," he said. "And we're glad to have this new home for creative energy just a few blocks from our home."
The coal giant has actually been mulling a move of its corporate headquarters out of downtown to elsewhere in the St. Louis region. It's the only Fortune 500 company headquartered in the central business district and, to keep it, city officials have offered tax breaks to Peabody and $10 million in federal tax credits to its landlord for improvements to the Gateway One Building, at 700 Market Street.
Boyce said his company has made no final decision on whether to stay put.
"We're in the final stages," he said. "But (downtown) is where we want to be."
And now Peabody's name is on one of the biggest redevelopment projects in the neighborhood.
Judith Newmark of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
