June 23–Hotel Angad will be the name of the 145-room inn at the Missouri Theatre building the Lawrence group is redeveloping in St. Louis' Grand Center.
The hotel's name is meant to honor Angad Paul, who died Nov. 8 in a fall from a balcony at his eighth-floor residence in London. Paul, 45, was chief executive of Caparo Group.
His connection to the Missouri Theatre building is that Caparo shares ownership of the 12-story structure with Lawrence Group. Caparo is the parent of Bull Moose Industries, which is moving its headquarters to the building from Chesterfield.
Paul's father, Swaraj Paul, the Indian-born entrepreneur who founded Caparo, attended a ceremony Thursday at which the hotel's name was made public. Paul, who holds the title Lord Paul of Marylebone, spoke quietly to the small crowd led by Mayor Francis Slay.
Bull Moose, a maker of metal tubes largely for the construction industry, will occupy two floors of the Missouri Theatre building. The company's headquarters employment will grow from 80 to about 100 after it relocates to the building at 634 North Grand Boulevard.
Steve Smith, Lawrence Group's chief executive, said financing of the $55 million project is close enough to allow work to proceed now. Completion of the independently operated hotel, Bull Moose offices and commercial space will be in July 2017, Smith said.
Lawrence Group bought the building in 2013 and had planned to convert it into apartments until he heard of interest from Bull Moose. A 500-car parking garage is to be erected on the east side of the building. A second development phase includes a new 150-unit apartment building next to the garage.
Bull Moose, founded in St. Louis in 1962, has eight U.S. locations, including a plant in Gerald, Mo. Caparo acquired Bull Moose in 1989.
Tim Bryant –314-340-8206
