ST. LOUIS — The lender for the now-closed Armory entertainment venue in St. Louis is suing owner Green Street, alleging the development company owes the bank $24 million. A foreclosure could be next.
The lawsuit from Peoples National Bank is the latest legal battle before Green Street, which owes over $1 million in real estate taxes and unpaid construction work just for the Midtown entertainment venue along Interstate 64, at Market Street and Vandeventer Avenue.
The developer additionally faces a bevy of lawsuits, mechanic’s liens and unpaid real estate taxes totaling more than $5 million related to other projects across the city and St. Louis County, including a proposed “town center“ project in the suburbs and an investor who claims Green Street never paid him.
In the lawsuit filed Friday, Clayton-based Peoples National Bank alleges that Green Street and its leaders, Phil Hulse and Kevin Morrell, defaulted on the loan Sept. 22. The Armory closed just four days later.
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Morrell referred questions to Hulse, who he said is managing partner of the Armory. Hulse did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Peoples is asking the St. Louis County Circuit Court to appoint a receivership for the Armory in order to protect the value of the property and to ensure Peoples gets its money first before others. The receiver would also manage the property “pending foreclosure or other disposition,†according to court documents.
The Armory, billed as “The biggest bar in STL,†opened in December 2022 and was a long-awaited redevelopment of the historic 1938 Missouri National Guard armory, a hulking brick building prominent to commuters.
The venue had about 6 acres of space inside, featuring bars, arcade games, table tennis, cornhole and horseshoes, among others. The venue also boasted a two-story slide, putting greens, and six 30-foot LED screens.
Its sudden closure, and now this lawsuit, mark an abrupt turn for a company that was once a development darling in the St. Louis region.
Founded in 2008, Green Street gained attention for its renovations and new apartment and commercial projects in The Grove neighborhood as the entertainment district was gaining popularity. The developer also dabbled in industrial construction, building a new warehouse park on the former Carondelet Coke site in south St. Louis, and office rehabs in Midtown. The company was honored at several mayor’s business luncheons over the years.
Around 2019 and 2020, Green Street acquired architecture and design firms and launched its own construction firm as it sought to scale up across the country. And it proudly relocated its headquarters from Clayton to the city’s Forest Park Southeast neighborhood as one part of a larger redevelopment of the site that includes Bar K dog park and saloon and a yet-to-open apartment complex.
Yet the developer’s ambitions ran afoul of rising construction costs and interest rates during the coronavirus pandemic. As projects stalled, Green Street laid off employees, spun off its acquisitions and saw several of its former executives leave to form their own companies.
Mechanic’s liens, legal action taken by contractors seeking money for unpaid work, began piling up by 2023 for its new apartment projects called just south of the Manchester Avenue commercial strip. At least one of those apartment complexes, Booker at the Grove on Vista Avenue, had 10 liens filed against it that year. All liens were paid off before the end of the year, court filings show.
But Green Street’s financial problems appeared to worsen this year.
A former employee, Morrell’s brother-in-law, sued after being fired, alleging Green Street misled investors. That case is pending.
Separately, court documents allege the company owes one engineering firm nearly $16,000 for work related to a Creve Coeur “town center“ project at Olive Boulevard and Interstate 270 that Green Street pitched in 2023. The mayor of Creve Coeur said last week that the city hasn’t heard from Green Street in months and that he assumes the project is dead.
An investor for its Union at the Grove apartment project alleges the company missed a deadline to pay him nearly $3 million, a claim Morrell and Hulse have denied in court filings.
Back at the Armory, court documents allege Green Street also has yet to pay nine contractors for work.
Of those nine, the court issued a default judgment for three, including $25,000 to promotional products supplier Lipic’s Engagement. It claims Green Street hasn’t paid for branded baseball caps, face gaiters, desk lamps and other items in bought in 2023.