Armory managing partner talks about the future of the facility after temporary closure

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – Jake Miller, one of the managing partners of The Armory STL, said the location has not yet reached its full potential.

“Really, the best was yet to come,” he said.

The Armory opened in mid-December 2022, but despite initial success, partners had to take on debt to keep the business afloat.

“A bad week for The Armory is 5,000 people, a good week is 20,000, so by most standards we were dealing with traffic and business,” he said. “It ends up being math, where we weren’t in a sustainable place.”

At the time of the facility’s temporary closure on Wednesday, only the main mezzanine level was in use. Miller planned to open a rooftop lounge and other event spaces in the facility.

Miller said operators have reached an agreement with the landlord, Green Street Real Estate. According to Miller, the partners would pay high rent while Green Street covered start-up costs such as carpentry, marketing and design.

“We planned to open the rest of the building by March 23, ’23; “I had no idea the landlord would default on its financing obligations,” he said. “That first phase we had was in no way intended to live in isolation, if anything it was intended to live in a complementary mix of concepts that all filled the larger gap, the model works.”

The temporary closure of The Armory leaves approximately 100 people without jobs. However, some agencies, such as SLATE, have stepped in to connect The Armory’s former employees with potential new employers.

“Our business team looked at our database and saw that there were currently 277 job openings posted for the lodging, food and beverage industry in the St. Louis area and we said, ‘Hey, this happened, would you be willing to overhaul and an emergency job fair,’” said Rebecca Ritter, SLATE’s One-Stop operator. “With the holidays and holiday season approaching, our hotel properties and employers in this region in particular have openings for everyone from line cooks and dishwashers to managers and management.”

During the temporary closure, Miller said there will be a restructuring so the full armory can reopen.

“I’m not just going to reopen that one room, I’m not going to burden myself or my people through that, it’s all or nothing, but we have a path to do the whole thing and we have a lot of people relying on it,” said Miller. “Based on the feedback we’ve received, there is huge demand for it and that’s the good news: the concept is working.”

Miller said it could be months before the armory reopens.

The employee fair is scheduled for Wednesday, October 2 from 9am to 12pm at SLATE’s 1520 Market St #3050, St. Louis, MO 63103

First Alert 4 has reached out to Green Street multiple times for comment but has not heard back.