Warning: If you are going to be working on the hotel-retail development across from the St. Louis Galleria, watch the length of your breaks, Big Brother is watching, Big Brother Michael Mullenix, that it.

Mullenix and younger siblings Doug and Greg are the driving forces behind Equis Hospitality Management, along with President Jerry Fischer.

Equis will start construction on the project that will include a 235-room Westin, a 144-suite Homewood Suites by Hiltons, 30,000-square-feet of retail and parking for more than 600 cars on a 74-0-acre strip of land next to the University Club in Richmond Heights.

Looming High about the suite in the Magna Bank Building at 1401 South Brentwood Boulevard, Michael Mullenix casts a glance toward the site.

Clayton-based Sansone Group is developing the retail of the project.

The Mullenix boys are the sons of Ike Mullenix, whose Mullenix Properties Inc. was the most prolific builder of apartments in the area.

How many would you say had?

Between Dad and myself, we’ve probably built 12 in the metro areas though the years, provavle 5,000 or 6,000 units. Right now we’re down to about, oh, 1,100 units that we own and manage.

So you still do manage some apartments?

We do, we still do some gamily holdings, but we’re not actively developing. I invest in the hotel business.

What got you out of the apartment business, because it seems that niche was a good one?

You know, I got into the hotel business by mistake. We owned Time Center Apartments, still own Time Venter Apartments at Fifth Street and 70 out in St. Charles. And we owned some commercial land that was in front of the complex, that fronted Fifth Street and what is now Veteran’s Parkway, which is the outer road for Highway 70 and we had three out lots. We could not sell them back in the early 90’s when there was a depression where you couldn’t sell anything.And all of a sudden the casino showed up out there. And it was a different world.  And we had all kinds of people wanting to buy. We put under contract with a couple of operators, but they never closed the land.So my dad looked at me and said, “You know what? Everyone wants to put a hotel there. I don’t know why we can’t get the deal done.” I didn’t know the first thing about the hotel business. I called 1-800-HolidayInn, believe it or not, just saying, “Where do I start?”

Well who did you talk to?

Some reservationist. After a series of calls, I remember I got through to a development guy at Holiday, and he came in, loved the site, and said, “There’s only one problem. The guy that owns the Holiday Inn Select down the highway is a territorial. So he’d have to build it.”  Well, that didn’t set well with our family. He said, “There’s one Fairfield Inn by Marriot in the metropolitan area of St. Louis that has 2.5 million people. There’s room for four or five of those things.”So I called Marriot. I basically struck a deal with Marriott on our first 80-room Fairfield Inn, which I still own. And one turned into about eight in about a five-year time span. Now we’re moving into full-service hotels. Apartments have kind of been almost reduced to a commodity.

What did your father, who had sustained himself for so long and had been so successful in apartments, think?

He pretty much let us do what we wanted to do within certain parameters that he would invest in.

So you guys eventually bought him out. Is that correct?

We bought him out last year.

And was everything amicable?

Of course, they’re not. But it’ll get there. It’ll get there.

There are still some strained feeling?

Yeah, I think both sides aren’t happy with each other.

Did he feel maybe you deserted him? Is that the feeling?

No, I think it’s a natural progression when you get near 70 years old. You just want to stop taking risks. And I was pushing and pushing more. The problem with Dad and I is Dad hates partners. I like partners, and we bought him out by taking on institutional partners, Rockbridge Capital.

I noticed in all the literature you put out, you put a lot of confidence in the addition of Jerry Fischer as your president. What does he bring to the mix?

Jerry brings excellent hotel operations. You know, I was an apartment guy, had apartment DNA. When I started on the business with Marriott, some of their senior guys hooked me up with two awesome operators. Jerry used to work for one. They basically told me, “You need to worry about the investment side, the capital side, the ownership side. But whether you know the staff is happy, the brands, you need a hotel guy. You can’t do both.”

You had some “hotel guys” before Fischer?

Well, I went through a couple of guys because basically the guy was doomed from the get-go because my father didn’t support the position. So after 9/11 happened, Jerry had quit his job. One day I was driving somewhere with my wife, and I had just blown out the guy that had the job, and my wife said, “Why don’t you hire Jerry?” I said, “No, he’s a friend. I’m not going to do that.” She goes, “I thought you met him through Marriott. You know you’d be great partners. He’s almost like a brother to you.” Jerry has taken out hotels to the level they needed to be. We have no desk service problems. They score within the top 10 to 20 percent within all Marriott hotel systems.

I guess he gives you a little but of a non-Mullinex flavor, too?

Well, that’s a different problem. You know that was a frustrating thing being a family business. You wouldn’t always put the right people in the right places. The brothers and I are very close. I mean we grew up in a divorced household, so we learned how to be very close and always act as a team… We’re not always in agreement with each other, but we work it out. We’re brothers.

How much have you done with the Sansones before?

I’ve know those guys for a long time. This is our first actual busness deal. Ther’re great guys. Again, I identify with them. It’s a band of brothers working with another band of brothers.

How much say will you guys have in selecting retail mix?

That’s what the (the Sansones) do. I’ve learned in the 20 some years I’ve been doing this now, do what you do – don’t try to do something else.

How do you see the growth in your company in the future?

You know we put out this things we said we wanted to have 5,000 rooms in 5 years. And it’s pretty aggressive. We didn’t put that out until maybe November. And I spent the last year doing nothing but buying out family partnerships. And I’ve had not a lot of chances to go hit the pavement and find new deals because all I have been dealing with is lawyers and disgruntled family members. It’s all done. So now I can work on deals.