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ST. LOUIS — Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said Friday that city and business leaders are working on a plan to revitalize two large, vacant buildings downtown.

She told reporters gathered on Washington Avenue, in the heart of the loft district, that the city’s development agency and business chamber Greater ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Inc. have 120 days to figure out a path forward for the historic Railway Exchange building and the Millennium Hotel, both of which have sat empty for years.

“My administration is continuing our work toward a day when Downtown re-emerges as the economic and cultural beacon for our entire region,� Jones said in a statement.

The announcement marked the latest push to address some of downtown’s thorniest problems. Both the Railway Exchange and the Millennium occupy prominent blocks in the heart of the region, and their decline has been embarrassing for city officials.

The Millennium Hotel, on South Fourth Street, once drew tourists to a revolving, top-floor restaurant. Now , visible on Cardinals baseball broadcasts. The Railway Exchange building, on Olive Street, used to be the headquarters of the May department store company, and hosted a Macy’s until 2013. Now it’s shelter for squatters, a target for copper thieves, and fodder for stories like a recent front-page Wall Street Journal feature headlined

But officials said Friday they’re not going to let that continue.

“It’s time for us to get in the game,� said Neal Richardson, who runs the city’s economic development arm. “It’s time for us to hold those building owners accountable for the dilapidation and destruction that has been created with those facilities.�

Jason Hall, Greater ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Inc.’s CEO, said a Sept. 14 deadline for solutions is ambitious. But he said that’s a good thing.

“It’s going to create focus,� he said, “and we’re going to create solutions.�

They will have their work cut out for them.

The Railway Exchange building is a 21-story behemoth, taking up an entire city block. It’s a striking piece of Chicago school architecture, clad in cream-colored terra cotta, and a monument to downtown’s heyday.

But it is tied up in litigation with lien holders, which has clouded the real estate title of the property and thwarted new efforts to renovate or sell it. It has also had its basement flooded and its insides ransacked by thieves and vagrants.

Steve Stogel, who just became the latest in a series of developers to try and tackle the project, recently told the Post-Dispatch it might be the hardest thing he’s ever done.

“I’ve done hard before,� he said, citing his work reviving the massive Old Post Office a couple of blocks away. “But the Railway Exchange is really hard. It might be at the top of the list.�

The Millennium property might not be far behind. The 780-room hotel, which sits just steps from the Gateway Arch grounds, was the largest hotel in the region .

But the building fell into disrepair in its final years of operation: Most of the hotel rooms were out of service by the end. A scheduled replacement of mechanical systems was shelved. More recently, it has been cited for code violations, like broken windows.

It’s also a tough market for most commercial properties right now. Demand is soft. High interest rates are making it harder to finance projects.

In recent months, city leaders have begun taking action to try and bring the buildings back to life regardless.

In October, city officials approved a $100,000 deal to put special steel plates and window shields on the Railway Exchange building to keep trespassers out, and aldermen passed legislation allowing the city to seize the property through eminent domain if necessary.

In March, shortly after the city began considering similar legislation for the Millennium, its Singaporean owner put it up for sale.

Hall, the Greater ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ CEO, said downtown has momentum. The city has seen the construction of a new soccer stadium and the restoration of the historic Butler Brothers building, the latter of which an arm of Greater ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ helped finance.

“We’ve done this before, and we’re going to do it again,� Hall said.

If the area’s leaders want to restore the region to national preeminence, he said, they need a strong downtown.

“Downtowns define who we are,� Hall said. “We are all going to wear this brand.�