ST. LOUIS — Windows on Washington is saying goodbye at the end of the year as owner Thomas Klein retires.
The historic event space and catering business will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this month. Also this month is Klein’s 72nd birthday. Both events felt like indicators it was a good time to retire, Klein said.
“It came kind of quickly,” Klein said. “It’s never one of those things [you anticipate.] You plan a picnic and it rains.”
Though Windows on Washington’s official last day will be December 31, Klein said they wanted to make the announcement now so that people with events planned in 2025 can reschedule.
All events scheduled for 2024 will go on as planned and clients with events in 2025 were notified this week of the upcoming closure, Klein said. A press release states that deposits for these events will be fully refunded and the team is assisting in finding alternative accommodations.
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The building is currently listed for sale by commercial real estate broker BarberMurphy Group.
It’s listed at $4.9 million for 64,783 square feet across five floors. The space for sale includes the first, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth floors, 185 parking spaces, residential lofts, office space, a commercial kitchen and open floor plans. The venue also advertises tall loft windows, exposed brick walls, exposed air-ducts and hardwood floors.
The building was built in 1903 as a power plant for the St. Louis Transit Company, one of the first streetcar companies in the city.
Klein has no expectation for the new owner to maintain the Windows on Washington business.
“If an individual is to buy the building, it’s their money to do what they want with it.”
So far, a few developers and beverage companies have expressed interest in the building, Klein said.
Though the cost for goods have increased over the years and a labor shortage has been affecting many businesses, his included, Klein said Windows on Washington has been good about pivoting and budgeting appropriately and his impending retirement is not a result of financial woes.
“It’s like a bigger organization or a household,” he said about the economy. “We got to make it through that.”
Windows On Washington grew out of the Thomas W. Klein Catering Company, which started in the late 1980s. It’s been recognized by wedding planning website The Knot as 2023 Best of Weddings.
In 1999, Klein expanded the business to include the 10th floor of City Museum, dubbed Windows Off Washington.
In 2005, he moved operations to its current location and consolidated both ventures there.
View life in St. Louis through the Post-Dispatch photographers’ lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.
