ST. LOUIS—Core urban areas like Chicago have become well-known for attracting thousands of new residents to their respective downtowns, but the same phenomenon is occuring in many other Midwest cities. The former CPI Building, a 270,000-square-foot 1912 vintage office building in St. Louis, is just one of many such properties that will soon be converted to loft apartments. Revive Capital Development, LLC, a Kansas City-based investor, has just bought the nine-story building at 1706 Washington Ave. from 1706 Washington LLC. John Warren, a vice president with the St. Louis office of JLL represented the seller. The financial terms were not disclosed.

The vacant building was previously occupied by CPI for more than 50 years and sits in the heart of the Washington Avenue Loft district. The sale illustrates the changes taking place in the city's office market, as developers convert several older, class B buildings to hotel or residential use.

"The property attracted considerable attention from investors around the Midwest and nationally," Warren tells GlobeSt.com. "We also saw interest from several local investors who were focused on revitalization and being part of the next wave of downtown development. We had investors looking at a variety of redevelopment options, from boutique hotel space to, what ultimately will occur on the site, multifamily units. This is a great opportunity to take a unique vintage building and repurpose it to fit with the new dynamics of this market."