Two historic buildings not long ago slated for demolition are getting a second life as The Key STL Burger Bar & Boogie (3221 and 3223 Olive), opening today in Midtown. Operated by the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, the new concept serves as both a six-day-a-week burger and sports bar and a weekend dance venue.
It’s the foundation’s latest addition to its growing Grand Center/Midtown portfolio of 16 projects over the past decade.
Here’s what to know before you go.
The Concept
“There’s a long story as to why we wanted to preserve these two buildings,” says Chris Hansen, Kranzberg Arts Foundation’s executive director. “The short version is that we wanted a new gateway to the Arts District for people not necessarily thinking about art, but for people headed to Enterprise [Center], Topgolf, [City] Foundry, or just looking to hang out. We wanted to offer something we felt we all needed, a place that also celebrates St. Louis.”
The Burger Bar component offers casual fare, counter service, and delivery—“a place to grab a great burger, watch a game, hang out or get in and out quickly,” Hansen says. “With Field House closing, the timing made sense.”
The adjoining Boogie venue will host a range of local and regional dance bands, such as Dr. Zhivegas, salsa, country line-dancing, and go-go acts. For now, it will open Fridays and Saturdays only, with no cover charge. On nights with no live music, the club will host watch parties, as well as live-streamed and pay-per-view events projected on a 15-foot drop-down screen.
The Menu
Chef and caterer Michele Coen of Michele C. Catering & Events developed the menu, drawing on her experience at The Dam (which specialized in burgers and sandwiches) and The Dark Room (a KAF-affiliated venue). “We needed a strong food presence and someone familiar with this style of food,” Hansen says. “Michele was the obvious choice.”
The menu centers on eight signature smashburgers and a build-your-own option—single, double, or triple—with vegan and a chopped-salad burger version available. Hansen says, “We’re using local beef from Price Family Farms, processed by Bolyard’s. You can feel the difference eating high quality meats.” The burger program is modeled after Mac’s Local Eats (what Hansen calls “the best in town”) which utilizes the whole animal.
Favorites from Coen’s Dam days—hand-cut fries and a dozen house-made sauces—will return, along with starters such as jerked chicken wings, Buffalo chicken and shrimp tacos, a three-cheese melt, and cheesesteaks (chicken or beef). Locally sourced collaborations include STL Toasted buffalo chicken T-ravs, Companion pretzel sticks, Session Taco chips, and desserts, including STL Toasted’s key lime T-ravs and gooey butter bites from Ann & Allen Baking Company.
The bar team, known for its craft cocktail success at Sophie’s Artist Lounge, created drinks named after St Louis CITY SC players. Order a No. 1 or a Roman Bürki, for instance, and you’ll get the same cocktail. Caribbean-style options (Pain Killer, Mezcal Mai Tai, Mango Daiquiri) join draft beer, seltzers, and Excel Bottling’s sodas and “dirty sodas.” Several canned N/A options are available as well.
Food is ordered at the counter and cocktails at the bar, with completed orders announced on a digital screen and via text message. Food and drink ordered from the Burger Bar can be consumed in the Boogie space.
The Spaces
KAF’s team took care to restore, rather than replace. The weathered exterior was steam-cleaned, the brick stripped of decades of old paint, and the hardwood floors and coffered tin ceiling were fully restored.
The Burger Bar space seats 60, with another 60 on a patio opening spring 2026. Any space not taken up by large-format TVs has been dedicated to graphic murals depicting St. Louis icons, neighbors, and partners. “It’s part of the brand that helps tell our story,” Hansen says. KAF venues are represented as well, including the Big Top and The ZACK. Guests will need to gaze, contemplate, and ask questions to sort them all out.
Next door, guests enter Boogie through a sound-attenuated vestibule marked “Let’s Dance.” The story line unfolds further via more red-and-white graphics along the way. KAF’s brand team collaborated with three illustrators to create the iconography.
The 350-capacity room showcases 160-year-old tension trusses, a rare architectural feature in St. Louis that, in this case, allows for a large, open dance floor without columns. The interior brick has been tuck-pointed, the limestone wainscot revealed and sealed, and the concrete floor polished to a high-gloss, dance-inducing shine.
Perimeter seating lines the space, and a private, reservable gallery room in back has its own bar and seats 45. Above, two Big Ass Fans keep the air circulating.
The inaugural hours for Burger Bar are from 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and until 1:30 a.m. on Friday-Saturday through Monday, with the kitchen closing at 10 p.m. and midnight respectively. The Boogie side is open from 9 p.m.–1:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
Admittance to Boogie is via a $10 cover every night (free before 10 p.m.), while parking at a multi-story covered garage across the street runs $1.50 per hour.
Hansen says, “I tell people, if you like going to Helen Fitzgerald’s, you’ll like this place, because it’s predictable and it’s approachable.”
The Backstory
“Kranzberg [Arts Foundation] began developing Grand Center in 2006, when hardly anyone else was,” Hansen recalls. “None of our 16 projects were speculative. All were based on defined needs. We’ve built an environment that others now want to invest in.”
In 2019, the foundation launched The Walls Off Washington, commissioning what has become 32 murals connecting its venues across the neighborhood. “They celebrate St. Louis as an immigrant city and make the area more walkable,” Hansen says.
Post-pandemic, KAF’s pace has accelerated with projects like The Sovereign—a recently opened 1,200-seat concert venue operated by The Old Rock House—and Elevation—a Mediterranean restaurant from Jay-Z’s cousin, slated to open in December in the former Bulrush space.
The Key STL Burger Bar & Boogie site itself sits at the edge of historic Mill Creek Valley, once home to 20,000 African Americans who were displaced by highway construction in the late 1950s. “These two buildings were part of that community,” Hansen notes, “and there was strong opposition to tearing them down. Once we got involved, the outpouring of stories and memories was incredible. We got more attention on these buildings than anything else we’d ever touched.”
Hansen says that the name carries several layers of meaning. Historically, the space once housed the Accurate Key Company, a local locksmith business. Musically, a “key” defines tone and harmony, which aligns with the venue’s creative energy. The illustration program was a collaboration between Cuban artists in St. Louis and Havana, and Cuba, is often called the key to the Caribbean. A key can also symbolize a gateway, and Hansen says they wanted this project to serve as an entry point for new audiences to discover the Grand Center Arts District. “There’s also the ‘K’ nod to the Kranzberg name,” he adds, “plus it’s just one syllable, which makes it powerful, memorable, and easy to communicate.”
Recent past tenants include Lit Nightclub, Dante’s, Seven, and The Firehouse. “We want this to be the last iteration of these buildings,” Hansen says. “We want this to be a staple that celebrates what it is to be a St. Louisan, that celebrates our multi-cultural immigrant city, that brings diverse people together doing things we all agree on….great local food, our favorite teams, and a good dance floor.”
Hansen’s ultimate goal is for the new establishment to stay open seven days a week and serve food until midnight. Says Hansen, “The city needs that energy again.”
The Key STL Burger Bar & Boogie
📍3221 and 3223 Olive, Midtown
⏰Burger Bar: 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Wed & Thu, and until 1:30 a.m. Fri & Sat (kitchen closes at 10 p.m. and midnight, respectively)
⏰Boogie: 9 p.m.–1:30 a.m. Fri & Sat
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