Three St. Louis civic organizations have quietly bought the Kiener Plaza East and West parking garages, brutalist concrete structures that together funnel millions of visitors a year toward Gateway Arch National Park, with plans to overhaul their street-level retail, safety, and appearance. The Gateway Arch Park Foundation, the Berges Family Foundation, and the Arch to Park Equity Fund closed on the purchase from an out-of-state real estate investment trust that previously owned the garages, taking over facilities that supply more than 2,500 public parking spots downtown.
A Deal Built Off-Market
The purchase price was not disclosed, but as reported by St. Louis Magazine, the purchasers believe they got a good deal on the asset and say they are well capitalized for both the acquisition and the immediate improvement work ahead. Steve Smith, founder and CEO of New + Found, developed the vision for the real estate deal and served as an intermediary in the off-market transaction, according to the same report. Dustin Allison, CEO of the Arch to Park Equity Fund, said the purchase reflects St. Louis civic actors investing directly in downtown.
Street-level retail space in both garages sits at just 20 percent occupancy, per the outlet's reporting, and the new owners plan to revitalize those storefronts. A former retail space once home to Hooters is unlikely to see the chain return, and the owners say they are looking to fill remaining vacancies with a mix of locally owned businesses or national chains after finding success attracting tenants on Chestnut Street.
Fixing First Impressions Near the Arch
Beyond retail, the new owners plan to improve the garages' structures and facades, along with cleanliness, safety, and navigability throughout both facilities. Ryan McClure, who leads the Gateway Arch Park Foundation, said revitalizing the Kiener parking garages can improve visitor impressions and help the surrounding national park reach its full potential. Brad Dean, president and CEO of Explore St. Louis, said reimagining the garages will improve first impressions and strengthen downtown's resurgence, a sentiment tied to the garages' role as a literal front door for the millions of people who pass through the plaza area annually.
Safety concerns at Kiener Plaza are not new. Hoodline previously reported on a shooting that left two teens wounded in the plaza in May, and back in 2019 police responded to an attempted armed robbery inside the Kiener West Garage at 604 Pine Street. Those incidents underscore why cleanliness and security sit near the top of the new owners' priority list.
Part of a Bigger Downtown Push
The garage purchase fits a broader pattern for the Gateway Arch Park Foundation, which completed the acquisition of the vacant 28-story Millennium Hotel property near the Arch grounds in July 2025, partnering with The Cordish Companies on a planned $670 million mixed-use redevelopment, according to KSDK. The Arch to Park Equity Fund has also been active elsewhere downtown, entering a contract in May 2025 to purchase the historic Wainwright Building from the State of Missouri for $8.4 million and issuing a request for proposals for its redevelopment, per Greater St. Louis, Inc.
The garage deal also arrives as the City of St. Louis, the Gateway Arch Park Foundation, and Great Rivers Greenway are already midway through a $2.7 million infrastructure project at Kiener Plaza itself, adding shade trees, upgraded lighting, new pavers, and stormwater drainage systems that are scheduled for completion by October. That effort follows the plaza's earlier $23.7 million renovation, completed in May 2017 as part of the larger $380 million CityArchRiver initiative that reshaped the Gateway Arch grounds and ultimately raised $221 million in private philanthropic funds alongside public financing.
Downtown's Vacancy Problem
The push to fill empty retail space comes as downtown St. Louis continues to grapple with sluggish occupancy. Central business district apartment and condo vacancy rates remained 50 percent higher in early 2024 than pre-pandemic 2019 levels, according to Cushman & Wakefield data reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. City officials have also advanced plans for traffic calming and streetscape improvements along 7th Street to strengthen pedestrian connectivity between Ballpark Village and Washington Avenue past Kiener Plaza, complementing the garage owners' own retail ambitions.
The Gateway Arch Park Foundation already programs major public events at the plaza, including the seven-week Winterfest that draws tens of thousands of visitors downtown each winter, giving the new owners an existing pipeline of foot traffic to build on as they reshape the garages that serve as gateways to the park itself.
