Facility Nominated for 2021 Building St. Louis Award
The Le Méridien Hotel, formerly known as the Sheraton Clayton Plaza Hotel, officially opened to guests in October 2020 and is thriving as an upscale feature in the heart of the Clayton, MO business district.
Located at 7730 Bonhomme Avenue, the now named Le Méridien St. Louis Clayton hotel spent the COVID-19 pandemic much like the rest of us, closed off from the public, to allow for the 140,000 sf, 17-story high-rise to undergo an extensive $40 million renovation. The once 1964 era hotel was completely transformed into an upscale, international hotel brand – Le Meriden Hotel & Resorts, which is based on a European perspective and spirit of savoring the good life.
The renovation scope of work included a complete and total revamp of all 268 guestrooms and 13 suites with new finishes and a design that is reminiscent of a French style apartment, a home-away-from home with a residential ambience. Rooms also include plush amenities, floor-to-ceiling windows to feature the views of downtown Clayton and state-of-the-art technologies, including fiber optic cabling. Other upgrades included all hotel corridors, and a new 1,700 sf, 125-seat restaurant and bar called Café la Vie. The previously unused 15th floor was converted into a stunning, natural light filled fitness center with expansive panoramic views of downtown St. Louis, as well as state-of-the-art fitness equipment. The hotel also boasts a state-of-the-art 17,000 sf event space with a dedicated conference level floor with breakout rooms and pre-meeting space, two ballrooms on the lobby level, and a boardroom on a guest-room floor allowing attendee exclusivity.
The lobby also underwent extensive renovations as well, including the installation of unique echo French writing desks, adorned with arched steel and brass standing lamps for guest check-in, and several mid-century modern finishes in its Salon, which functions as a living area, lounge, and informal business hub for visiting guests. Other renovations included reducing the depth of the open-air third floor pool deck, repairing and painting the exterior concrete façade, structural repairs to the underground parking garage and installation of all new exterior windows.
Photos by: Laura Rubinstein
The Le Méridien was recently nominated by the St. Louis Business Journal for the 2021 Building St. Louis Awards in the category of renovation or conversion of a project valued at more than $5 million. Finalists and winners were selected by the St. Louis Business Journals editorial staff based on the community impact and design of each project. Although the Le Méridien project was not ultimately selected as a category winner, we are proud of the over 400 jobs that it brought to the St. Louis community!
The project team behind this incredible transformation includes Silverwest Hotel, HOK Architects and St. Louis based contractor Russell HBD, which recently merged with Iowa based contract Russell Construction + Development to provide expanded services to the St. Louis market. To learn more about Russell, please visit our website at www.russellco.com.