Plans are underway to renovate a former Post-Dispatch building in downtown St. Louis as 54 market-rate apartments.

Matt Masiel, president of Prime Building & Construction, of Clayton, is leading the $15 million project at 1139 Olive Street. An affiliated firm paid $4 million for the eight-story building in December 2017. Masiel said he hopes to begin its renovation in June or July and have 44 one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom apartments ready for tenants 18 months later. Monthly rents could range from about $1,150 to $1,650.

For now, the St. Louis Election Board and two small office tenants are the building’s only occupants. Masiel said he hopes to have a final agreement with the city next month to extend the board’s lease for 10 years. Under the developer’s plan, the board’s main facility would remain on the first floor and office tenants would relocate to the third floor. Floors four through eight would be redone as apartments.

The structure built for the Post-Dispatch at Olive Street and Tucker Boulevard opened in 1917 and cost $1.4 million, according to the building’s nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. The newspaper occupied the building until 1960, when it moved to 900 North Tucker Boulevard.