Downtown casino buys shuttered bar in Laclede's Landing
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Big Daddy’s owner Ryan Loeffler said he shuttered the bar in January 2021 and sold it a year later.
ST. LOUIS — The parent company of the downtown Horseshoe St. Louis casino has purchased the closed restaurant Big Daddy’s on the Landing, as its leader says it hopes to see more residential and office uses in the area.
An entity tied to the casino in January purchased two adjoining properties, 118 Morgan St. and 718 N. 2nd St., for a combined $1.2 million. Together, the two properties, including restaurant and patio space, measure about 10,000 square feet, according to city records.
New owner Tropicana St. Louis LLC is linked to Caesars Entertainment Inc. (Nasdaq: CZR), the Las Vegas-based casino firm that operates the Horseshoe, rebranded in May from Lumière Place. A different company, real estate investment trust Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. (Nasdaq: GLPI), owns the Horseshoe property.
Big Daddy’s owner Ryan Loeffler said he shuttered the bar in January 2021 and sold it a year later because plans to revive the district as a residential area would not come soon enough to bring sufficient patrons to ensure the location was as successful as other locations he could open. He operates four other restaurants: Big Daddy's Soulard, Big Daddy's 618 in Belleville, Big Daddy's Edwardsville and Silver Creek Saloon in Belleville. And Loeffler is now looking at options for a fourth Big Daddy’s site.
“I think they’re going to do really well with (the Landing), but it's not enough for a Big Daddy’s to be down there right now or a Wheelhouse or a Paddy O’s, for somebody to want to go down there and tough it out for a couple years until they bring 3,000 residents. It just takes time,” Loeffler said.
