ST. LOUIS 鈥 The St. Louis Blues ownership group said Monday that it has taken full control of the Stifel Theatre lease after buying out its partners on the venue.
The Blues owners bought out construction executives and brothers Joe McKee III and Chris McKee, who helped finance and renovate the facility during the early 2000s along with former members of the team鈥檚 ownership group including TowerBrook Capital Partners and Dave Checketts.
The city of St. Louis maintains ownership of the building.
鈥(The McKees) put in substantial investment and took very serious risk to make it happen,鈥 Blues Chairman Tom Stillman said Monday during a media event. 鈥淥n behalf of all of us, it wouldn鈥檛 be there without them. We are really grateful for all they鈥檝e done to make that happen. They鈥檝e done a great thing for St Louis.鈥
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After a roughly $79 million renovation, the theater reopened in 2011 as the Peabody Opera House. It was renamed the Stifel Theatre in 2018 under a 10-year naming-rights deal with St. Louis-based Stifel Financial Corp.
鈥淚 remember being skeptical of doing (the renovation) until we walked out on the stage for the first time, and I remember driving home that day saying to Joe, 鈥楾his needs to be done. This is crazy. This is an absolutely spectacular building, and I can鈥檛 believe it鈥檚 not open,鈥欌 said Chris McKee, who is president of CRG, the real estate development arm of construction giant Clayco. 鈥淎nd so it did not take much to convince us, honestly, once we saw the inside of the building.鈥
Joe McKee III, Chris鈥 brother, runs construction heavyweight Paric Corp.
The venue first opened in 1934 as the Kiel Opera House. It closed in 1991. A group called Kiel Partners bought the lease to the opera house and an adjoining convention hall. It later tore down the convention hall and replaced it with what鈥檚 now known as Enterprise Center.
Checketts, the former Blues owner, started negotiations with the city around 2009 to revitalize the venue.
Bookings and operations were handled by the Blues organization, working with the McKees, according to a statement. The Blues will continue to handle operations.
The Blues did not disclose the financial details of the deal.
The McKees are the sons of NorthSide Regeneration developer Paul McKee.