Sonnenschein, reached Thursday, said he got the go-ahead from an engineer and architect when he moved into the space in 2016.

He said the city told him this spring that he needed to address electrical issues, install exit lights and fire extinguishers, and replace some steps, and he was working on those issues. When he went to a board of appeals hearing, he was told the building needed to be ADA-accessible and that he never had an occupancy permit for the basement. He said online trolls have made complaints about the space.

“It’s a depressing thing when you’re put into a situation that you have no recourse other than to turn over and die,” he said.

He thinks the shutdown effort is politically motivated because the for-profit St. Louis Aquarium is opening at Union Station later this year. He said he has moved out of St. Louis and his curators are finding safe homes for the animals.

Oswald said he first started hearing complaints about the aquarium in December.