Iconic St. Louis building is ‘given’ to the City of St. Louis
Anheuser-Busch InBev has turned over the iconic Bevo Mill building and windmill in south St. Louis to the city.
David Gilbert and Patrick Viehmann operate the restaurant at Bevo Mill and had leased the property from the brewer. A-B InBev has transferred the land to the city for a dollar, Gilbert said, and lease payments will now go to the city of St. Louis.
“InBev is pretty much selling off all Busch properties, which is what we all kind of expected,” he said. “There are advantages to leasing from the city, which can help with improvements to maintain the historic character of the building.”
August Busch Sr. built the restaurant and five-story windmill in 1917 along Gravois, halfway between his home at Grant’s Farm and the brewery. Busch used the restaurant to entertain associates and as a private dining hall.
Since the restaurant was a retail beer outlet, the brewery had to stop operating it under new rules following Prohibition’s repeal.
The German-inspired restaurant, where female workers wear traditional dresses and male employees don lederhosen, was closed to all but private parties from 2001 through 2006, but then Gilbert and Viehmann reopened it as a restaurant.