On November 20, 2015 Landwhite Developers LLC founder David Roos reported that the company had secured financing for a proposed $34 million mixed-use renovation of the Chemical Building in downtown’s Old Post Office District.
The proposed plan will transform the 17-story, 167,000 sq. ft. building at Eighth Street and Olive into 120 apartments with ground level retail.
The brick, terra cotta, and cast iron Chemical Building was designed by Henry Ives Cobb and built in 1896. Several longstanding St. Louis businesses including the Shorthand Institute, later known as the Carlton School for Secretaries, have occupied space in the Chemical Building through the years. In 1934 legendary St. Louis cafeteria Miss Hullings opened their first location in the basement of the building.