Paul McKee and his NorthSide Dreams
St. Louis was apparently shocked and awed Thursday nite when the news reported that major St. Louis Development player Paul McKee was “secretly” buying up land throughout three adjacent neighborhoods on the North Side of the city, with no intent to repair the existing structures on said land.
The issue of his $47 million investment of personal capital to buy the properties was given not so much attention as the fact that–let’s just say it–he let the buildings in a severely blighted area of the city go to ruin (this as per the opposition, who have targeted a significant fact-finding mission at McKee in order to discredit his efforts to purchase property at a reasonable market price, saying his absence from purchased properties has laid waste to areas of the city that could have been renovated.
And the press has doubled the attention with bad PR after the meeting to discuss Paul McKee’s intentions were held closed to media.
So effectively, McKee and his business partners are taking all the right steps. They have managed to negotiate fair prices for blighted land in a dilapidated area of what everyone in St. Louis agrees has been unsavory for decades. Home owners in the area have not been able to fix price and gouge the developer based on consistent news of a future major development. All that said, fair is fair.
Many opponents of the way McKee handled the acquisitions state they feel cheated, that their city streets should have had the chance for redevelopment parcel by parcel, that empty lots should have been given new structures, that any development of significant scale could have happened over the years bit by bit.
Nonsense. The fact is that the St. Louis city plan was inherently flawed over 100 years ago, when rapid expansion and growth of the city population caused haphazard city planning, and eventually led to the independence of the city from St. Louis County, due to concerns for having to pay taxes to develop the county.
The City of St. Louis, for what it is, is this way due to poor and proper prior planning, lack of foresight, and realistic expectations for future growth.
Now we have come to a point in the city’s history that tells of significant chance for improvements. Some are ambitious and have yet to truly be concentrated into an effective mission. And some have been dramatic in changing the look of our city.
Lumiere Place, the new stadium, the renovation of Washington Avenue, the rejuvenation of the area around the Old Post Office, the Saint Louis University Campus expansion with Chafitz Arena and the updates to Highway 40, are just a few significant projects of much success and smooth transition. Others such as the Ballpark Village, have faced significant pains in actually becoming more than a promise.
The NorthSide redevelopment project with McKee’s experience at the helm, brings to the city a developer who has significant interest in the local community. He’s not an out-of-town developer. He’s a backyard fundamentalist. This is a guy who knows the city, it’s key players, and the way to get things done. His track record with WingHaven, in MasterCard’s presence there, is impeccable. He has magnificent ties to companies of St. Louis like Express Scripts, that are leaders in their industry. This guy is no joke. He’s got the capital to take major chances, and that he would want to give his energy to redeveloping the North Side, says a lot about his character, that a shrewd businessperson decides where to spend his money. McKee chose St. Louis for his proposed development. It is obvious that those who sold their properties chose McKee for this development too.
McKee deserves a vote of confidence. After living in the South Grand District and seeing how difficult it must be to truly bring to life an entire neighborhood or community, to equip it with the commercial venues, the nightlife and mixed retail, the sense of community to make it a success, it is apparent that the best way to approach city development is on a large scale, with a significant long-term plan, with adequate capital, and with the draw of major industry to anchor the growth of a community.
Skepticism is healthy and natural. But let’s remember, that in construction, projects are done on cost, on time and on quality, in order to make a profit. 5.4 billion dollars in assets buys a lot in the way of real estate. This project deserves the encouragement of the city of St. Louis as well as the County. Perhaps it will be a major boon, and breathe life into what used to be a major metropolitan hub for world commerce. Perhaps it will simply clean up the blighted leftovers of a downtrodden community. Whatever it does, it will certainly make the future of St. Louis brighter in the long term if it gains momentum and receives support. Honestly, the other option is not very promising at all.