The Heart of St. Charles Banquet Center was demolished Friday to make room for the next phase of a multiyear redevelopment.
The entrance to the site of thousands of proms, wedding receptions and other milestones came down with a crash as an excavator chomped into the side of the building.
The building first opened as a restaurant in the 1960s before becoming the Heart of St. Charles in 1992. It closed in 2019.
Mayor Dan Borgmeyer said the demolition is connected to the multibillion-dollar Boroughs of Riverwalk project to redevelop 5.5 miles of land along the Missouri River.
“It’s been an integral part of the community for a long, long time, and proudly so,” Borgmeyer said. “The memories will stay. The building is not going to.”
Courtesy of the City of St. Charles
The Boroughs of Riverwalk divides the riverfront into six sections. The Riverpointe borough, which includes the site of the former banquet center, is set aside for hotels and mixed-use development.
The first phase of the project was completed in 2021 with the construction of a Hampton Inn & Suites to the west of the property. The next phase will see the construction of a Fairfield Inn to open in winter 2028 and a parking garage to support the hotels.
Spokesperson Jamie Newell stated in a release that the final vision for the site includes another hotel and restaurant directly on the former banquet hall site.
Newell said the new development is intended to increase lodging capacity and support future tourism along the riverfront.
Charlotte Keene
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Property owner and developer Sheri Steffens said watching her longtime business crumble to make way for the hotels was surreal.
“When you’re young and going into business, (and) you’re going to build something really big and exciting, you don’t think, ‘OK, and in 30 years I’m coming back to tear it all down again,’” Steffens said. “This building has served us well, but it was the moments inside that really count. So, as we end this next chapter, all I have to say is the best is yet to come.”
Lifelong St. Charles resident Jolene Garland brought her grandson to see the demolition. She said she remembers having her 50-year high school reunion at the site.
“It was beautiful,” Garland said. “It was a great place to have weddings and social events. So, I’m sure it’ll be missed.”
