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ST. LOUIS — City officials sued to take ownership of downtown’s beleaguered Railway Exchange Building in a bid to jump-start redevelopment and end lawlessness at the vacant behemoth.

The city  late Thursday after Florida-based owner Hudson Holdings ignored the city’s offer this summer to buy the 1.2 million-square-foot property at 615 Olive Street for $5.3 million, what a third-party appraisal determined the building and its adjacent garage are worth.

Hudson co-founder Andrew “Avi� Greenbaum did not respond to a request for comment.

The city’s suit aims to take possession of the building through eminent domain, which gives governments the right to take private property for public use or to serve public good. The unusual approach — on such a prominent downtown building, before a redevelopment plan has been crafted — marks a milestone in City Hall’s approach to absentee owners and the protection of historic buildings, which boosters see as a way of turning around ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½â€™ misfortunes.

“If you’re an absentee property owner,â€� Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said in a statement, â€�neglect is no longer welcome in the city of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.â€�

The 21-story Railway Exchange, erected around 1914, takes up an entire city block in the heart of downtown’s business district. Preservationists say it’s an architectural jewel, with its terra cotta and brick adornments and marble paneling. It’s one of four major vacant buildings, including the former AT&T tower, the Chemical Building and the Millennium Hotel, that city officials say are crucial to revitalizing downtown.

It was once home of the flagship Famous-Barr department store, renowned for its shopping, and also its quaint second-floor restaurant and famous French onion soup.

But its last tenant, Macy’s, left around 2014, and the building has been vacant since. Proposed redevelopment efforts failed.

Hudson Holdings, led by Greenbaum and Steven Michael, bought the Railway Exchange and its parking garage in 2017 for $20 million and planned a $300 million mixed-use development — even after a water main rupture dumped millions of gallons of water and tons of sludge in the basement, destroying infrastructure.

But Hudson was never able to move past planning stages as lawsuits mounted from its lender and contractors it initially hired to develop a plan for the building.

The city’s path to eminent domain took nearly two years. In January 2023, the Building Division condemned the property.

The lawlessness that Railway attracted and the absentee owner forced the city’s hand, officials said.

People lived in ceilings and in between floors, according to emails depicting the chaos. Copper thieves snaked through underground tunnels to gain entry.

Last October, aldermen filed a bill allowing the city to use eminent domain on the property.

In April, it was featured in  about downtown’s woes.

And in June, the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Development Corp., the city’s economic development agency, sent a letter to Hudson offering to buy the building. City officials have not disclosed what they offered. But they promised to use eminent domain if the parties couldn’t cut a deal.

Now officials and boosters have lofty ambitious for the Railway Exchange: They envision hundreds of people working or living there, prompting businesses to open in the neighborhood and spurring other developments downtown.

Downtown cannot move forward without addressing the Railway Exchange vacancy, said Jason Hall, CEO of regional business group Greater ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Inc.

The building’s owners have “continued to thumb their noses� at the city, he said. He called the mayor’s move to use eminent domain “bold.�

“Holding them accountable and using the full legal power that she has to take that action, we applaud this,� Hall said. “It needs to be addressed. If they’re unwilling to do it in a negotiated way, the mayor has the authority to resolve this in the courts, and I applaud her, and we applaud her, for taking that step.�

A revitalized Railway Exchange could mean thousands, if not millions, of dollars in new tax revenue for the city and a rejuvenated downtown that could harken back to the city’s glory days, boosters say.

“We have been moving aggressively to accelerate the process of securing Railway Exchange with the ultimate goal of stabilizing it for future redevelopment,� SLDC’s President and CEO, Neal Richardson, said in a statement. “Bringing Railway Exchange under local control will be a huge step in ensuring future redevelopment plans align with the community’s best interests.�

Jacob Barker of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.