Jul. 20--Another vacant historic downtown building -- this one standing for 100 years at the corner of Washington Avenue and Fourth Street -- will reopen in September with contemporary apartments and large hotel suites. 

The developer, William S. Stallings, spent two years and about $16 million breathing new life into the seven-story J. Kennard & Sons Carpet Co. office building, across Washington from the Missouri Athletic Club. He renamed it the WS on Washington. 

Hotel manager April Barry said that several of the 17 apartments are leased and that the 61 hotel suites are being reserved through 2003. 

The one- and two-bedroom apartments -- with 1,040 to 1,500 square feet -- will rent for $1,400 to $2,200 a month unfurnished or $1,900 to $3,400 furnished. The large hotel suites -- with full kitchens, tall windows and ceiling heights of 13 feet or more -- are going for $149 to $299 a night. 

Chris Brennan, 26, director of technology at On Target Marketing Inc. in Crestwood, has signed up for one of the sixth-floor apartments with expansive views of the Eads Bridge and the riverfront. 

Brennan and his roommate, Ryan Manger, who has landed a job at the Thompson Coburn law firm downtown, can't wait to call the place home. 

"We'll have a great workout facility and a really good restaurant right in the building," he said. "Ryan will be able to walk to work, and it will actually be quicker for me to drive to Crestwood from downtown than from West County, where I used to live." 

The apartments are attracting mostly young professionals who work downtown, Barry said. They'll park their cars in reserved garage spaces. 

And the hotel suites? 

"We're getting a mix of people," Barry said. "Business travelers, people coming in on weekends for extended stays . . . people wanting to stay in something that's not your traditional hotel." 

Stallings, president of the W.S. Stallings Corp., was the original developer of the historic Chase Hotel on Kingshighway Boulevard. It was converted into apartments and a movie theater. Also, he renovated a historic building at 1224 Washington Avenue for lofts and a night club. 

After buying the Kennard three years ago for $475,000, he said, "I wanted to do something different and ultracontemporary . . . along the lines of what you'd find in South Beach, New York, or Los Angeles." 

The result is a trendy, art deco interior that comprises a spa, a health club, a business center, a bar and a restaurant specializing in Pan American-style food. 

The architect, Val John Grewe, is overseeing restoration of the building's ornate brick-and-terra exterior, the original part designed by noted architect Isaac Taylor. Edison Brothers Stores Inc. built an addition in the 1960s when the company owned the building. Edison has gone out of business. 

Grewe said restoration will include bringing back two iron-and-copper awnings that were above entrances at the turn of the century, when the building was one of the well-known carpet houses in the country. "They'll be as close to the originals as possible," he said. 

-----To see more of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.postnet.com. 

(c) 2001, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.