Yesterday evening at Central Baptist Church, Aldermen Marlene Davis (D-19th) and APril Ford-Griffin (D-5th) held a meeting on McEagle Properties' large-scale redevelopment project centered around St. Louis Place and JeffVanderLou. McEagle's representatives made a presentation, including slides showing proposed land uses, before taking spirited questions from the crowd.
The bombshell dropped was that McEagle plans to submit a financial plan and tax increment financing plan to the city by May 26, and hopes to have a redevelopment ordinance approved by the Board of Aldermen by the end of the year. This project is on a fast track all of a sudden.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an account here: "Residents get briefing on developer's long-awaited plan"
I'm going to withhold comment now and turn this post over to readers and people who attended last night's meeting.
What are your thoughts about the McEagle project, the proposed timeline and the forthcoming request for more public incentives?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
13 comments:
I wish I would have known about this in advance, I would love to have been there.
On a side note, I'm disappointed that the Post Dispatch was not able to come up with more details for their article. I've read about it on three sites this morning... all of them giving few details. I imagine that's exactly how McEagle wanted it though.
Michael,
Why are you withholding comment? Was the promise of your silence a condition of being allowed to attend the meeting? How can we comment if we don't know what the proposal is? At this point it is just rumors and second-guessings...
They're probably short on details because they were barred from the meeting.
I am scared to death of this plan. For all other large-scale devleopments in this city-- Ballpark Village, the Bottle District, St. Louis Centre, etc-- the renderings are publicized for all to see. But this one is a private plan, and there must be a reason why. How ironic that the backroom plan is the one that actually gets done. I urge McEagle to be a good steward of the neighborhoods in which it invests, and not the dark knight that destroys existing, reusable fabric to make way for forgettable exurban waste. North St. Louis matters, contrary to popular belief.
I am withholding comment now because I plan to post my comments in a separate post. More to come as soon as possible (and amid Preservation Week I am swamped).
If preservation of existing buildings is at the heart of this plan, that would score a lot of points with me. Something tells me that's not the case though.
I loathe the saying, "too big to fail" and I think that this project has very little chance of being completed, but it is a compelling vision for North St. Louis and IMO would be much more worthy of TIF and other subsidies than Ballpark Village, a casino, big box retail or exurban communities.
"Mill Creek Valley - The Sequel!"
Bound to be a BLOCKBUSTER!
Little chance of being completed? lol thats funny! In St. Louis the more corrupt you are the better chance of something getting completed. Paul Mckee is already in good with the mayor, alderman, and state legislatures. They are all on the payroll of this guy.
This is full scale screw the poor gentrification in action. Why do you think the meetings are so secretive, McKee is not sweating it because he has already received financing. Anyone who thinks this guy wont make serious payola of this project is living in the dark. He will get funding, it will get completed, and he will get paid and personally I think it WILL be a success.
People, people, this meeting was not totally convened by McEagle. There is protocol, April and Marlene, as aldermen have a right to let their constituients know and there is an order of things. They basically handpicked their officers, committee or active representatives to have first look. There is a process people! I am not mad at anybody, at least folk are TALKING as in communicating and having a two way dialogue. We at least had a sighting of a McEagle Rep. Let's stop being so emotional and start thinking strategically. The NORTH SIDE has a heart beat and is yet alive!!!
The bottom line and the solution to our problems, the population of the city of St. Louis MUST increase. With increased population comes an increased tax base. More money to do things with. I will not be moved by fear! I think great things are on the horizon!
Even in a marriage, emotions can not pay the rent!!!
How St Louis prospers (?): BJC HealthCare Chairman McKee retires: "A visionary risk-taker and developer, McKee has led many real estate development projects including WingHaven, a planned community in O'Fallon, Missouri."
Lou inhabitants are not allowed to control their own police force or school district, why should your homes be any different?
I have only followed the McKee story from afar but I am wary of 2 things:
1) A huge plan put forward by someone who does not live in the city in question. He has now personal stake in the outcome except for his cash flow and profit. For the city to allow one developer such wide ranging influence is a mistake.
2) I am wary of the ability of the Post and the RFT to follow this with any kind of thorough analysis. Today's Post story about the mtg is a perfect example of shallow writing that takes everyone at their word without probing any further into the various motives in play. The RFT simply does not have the chops to cover this ongoing story in any type of critical way.
...though, the intrigue alone should present the very local RFT with a great journalistic opportunity for a multi-part story on Blairmont, and would be expected to explore and expose the grittier aspects of the dealings as that is the nature of the RFT. The two largest hindrances would be both the extreme diffuculty of access to those in the know on the McKee end, and the addictive need of the RFT to publish the nearly appalling and certainly vulgar feature articles that the regularly do.
Post a Comment