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Moonrise Hotel: Joe Edwards launches latest Loop endeavor
(by Kara Krekeler - April 29, 2009)
On April 16, an astronaut stepped out of a smoke-filled airlock, walked across a cement pad and to the strains of the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey, christened “St. Louis’ first spaceship” with an explosion of champagne.
It was in this fashion that Loop landlord Joe Edwards — dressed in a spacesuit — officially launched the Moonrise Hotel, a new 125-room boutique hotel next to The Pageant in the Delmar Loop. The hotel also features an upscale restaurant, Eclipse, and will feature a rooftop bar that’s scheduled to open in mid- to late-May.
“I couldn’t be happier” that the hotel is opening, Edwards said. “I hope the Moonrise adds a lot to this street and its reputation.”
While pitching the hotel and during its construction, Edwards had argued that the Loop needed a hotel to help cement the district’s status as a destination attraction for St. Louis. Lyda Krewson, alderman for the city of St. Louis’ 28th Ward, which includes the new hotel, called the Moonrise “the missing tooth on Delmar,” saying that it fills out the neighborhood much like a new tooth filling the gap in a second-grader’s smile.
“We may not realize what a big deal this is,” Krewson said. Not only is the Moonrise “not like your regular hotel experience,” but there are few boutique hotels being constructed and opening across the country, she said. “This is not happening in other cities.”
The hotel was already booked to 50 percent occupancy on its opening weekend. Moonrise sales manager Jennifer Jones said that many of those who have booked rooms are St. Louisans, some from as close as a few blocks away. She said that Desires Hotels, the Moonrise’s management company, expects the boutique hotel to draw a lot of guests from the metro area, as well as parents of Washington University students and touring musicians who are performing at The Pageant.
Like Edwards’ other properties — Washington Avenue’s Flamingo Bowl and the Loop’s Blueberry Hill, Pin-Up Bowl and The Pageant — the Moonrise is filled with quirky art based on Edwards’ extensive collection. Reprints of celestial-themed pictures fill the guest rooms and hallways, while photos of Edwards posing with astronauts hang outside the hotel’s two meeting rooms, which are named Apollo 8 and 11 after the moon-landing space shuttles. A few now-empty display cases will also showcase space-themed artifacts from Edwards’ personal collection.
But the Moonrise also features closer-to-home touches. The hotel’s 10 suites are themed, based on St. Louis Walk of Fame honorees, including Tennessee Williams, Josephine Baker, Buddy Ebsen and Vincent Price. Additionally, each room features Kaldi’s coffee and Bissinger’s chocolates. “We tried to go local for everything,” Jones said.
In Eclipse, the hotel’s ground-floor restaurant, the local trend continues, with only Missouri-based draft beers (the lone exception in Guinness) and mostly local produce used in the kitchen. “The kitchen will be as local as it can be,” said Chad George, general manager of Eclipse. “It’s about supporting the people that are most important to you — your neighbors.”
George said that while the restaurant has an initial menu featuring twists on classic American fare, the menu will be constantly evolving, with the first change scheduled for June 1. “The initial menu isn’t boring, but it’s a good base to launch from,” he said.
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