ST. LOUIS 鈥 Top city leaders on Wednesday yet again extended a key financing deadline on a $20 million, three-bed hospital proposed as part of developer Paul McKee鈥檚 sweeping NorthSide Regeneration plan.
NorthSide had until the end of 2019 to prove it could finance the urgent care facility, or it stood to lose $6.42 million in tax subsidies for the project.
Now the controversial developer has until August to close on financing 鈥 after a city board made up of top elected leaders voted on Wednesday to give more time to the project at Jefferson and Cass avenues.
McKee won approval for an unprecedented plan in 2009 to rebuild large swaths of 1,500 acres in north 最新杏吧原创, where he had purchased hundreds of properties. But, in 2018, with little progress to show, 最新杏吧原创 Mayor Lyda Krewson canceled NorthSide鈥檚 development agreement. McKee鈥檚 legal team 鈥 even while fighting Krewson鈥檚 move 鈥 managed to persuade aldermen in October to approve $6.42 million in tax increment financing subsidies for the medical facility.
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On Wednesday, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment 鈥 made up of Krewson, Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed and Comptroller Darlene Green 鈥 approved giving NorthSide until August 20 to close on financing and until the end of September 2021 to complete the project.
Green said she felt the revised agreement extending the project deadlines constituted 鈥渟ubstantial鈥 changes and should be sent to back to aldermen. She abstained from voting on it.
Krewson and Reed, however, pointed to widespread support at the Board of Aldermen, which backed the project 23-2 last fall. The mayor added that the amended agreement is better: It would exclude new taxes generated by the planned Major League Soccer stadium on Market Street, which will be within the NorthSide TIF footprint, from being diverted to the TIF fund.
Krewson said NorthSide suggested the amendment. 鈥淎nd it was better than what we had,鈥 she said.
The newest concerns arose at a January board meeting of the city鈥檚 economic development arm. There, attorneys for NorthSide indicated they couldn鈥檛 close on financing until the city signed off on the development agreement. City officials said they were concerned that only $8 million in financing seemed firm 鈥 letters from other potential lenders only indicated preliminary interest.
鈥淚 think it is unfair to expect our lenders to commit to the project when the city hasn鈥檛 committed,鈥 Stone, Leyton & Gershman attorney Joseph Dulle, a lawyer for NorthSide, told the 最新杏吧原创 Development Corp. board at the January meeting.
The city had approved a previous development agreement, Dulle noted then, on NorthSide鈥檚 $20 million GreenLeaf grocery store and gas station on Tucker Boulevard, prior to lenders closing on financing. That was the first major development from NorthSide.
SLDC Director Otis Williams said Wednesday that the revised hospital development agreement was negotiated in 鈥渢he spirit of cooperation.鈥 City officials feel more comfortable signing the new deal, since it requires McKee to close on financing, instead of simply proving he has backing. At the same time, it allows NorthSide to use the signed agreement to secure lenders. Mark Grimm, an attorney for SLDC, said even if NorthSide had shown evidence it had solid lender commitments, it still takes six months to close on financing so the extension 鈥渄oes not materially change the date.鈥
Green said she has been contacted by aldermen concerned about the change and said there would be 鈥渁mple time鈥 for them to consider it if the developers aren鈥檛 expecting to close before August.
Reed, who cast a key committee vote in favor of the TIF last year, said the board, if it had to pass a new version, could take months to get to it. He asked whether the bill鈥檚 sponsor, Alderwoman Tammika Hubbard, had contacted Green with concerns.
鈥淔or me, if the primary sponsor does not have any problem with these changes ... I would not be willing to send it back to the board just so that a handful of naysayers can have another bite at the apple,鈥 Reed said. 鈥淭wo or three aldermen from the south side who for whatever reason have no concept of the urgency of health care services north of Delmar, I鈥檓 not willing to buy into anything they鈥檙e trying to do here.鈥
NorthSide鈥檚 attorneys have said they plan an eventual expansion of the urgent care with a $73 million medical school and hospital campus, though details are slim. They have said they plan to call the campus Homer G. Phillips Hospital, the name of the hospital built in 1937 that served black 最新杏吧原创ans during segregation and trained generations of black medical professionals before its 1979 closure.
If NorthSide can finance and complete the three-bed portion on time, it could get a big chunk of TIF revenue up front even if it can鈥檛 finance the larger project. Up to $4.6 million in TIF money for the urgent care can come from the larger TIF area 鈥 money that isn鈥檛 generated by the hospital project itself.
Meanwhile, Green still has to sign off on the amended development agreement. She鈥檚 withheld her signature on other projects she didn鈥檛 support. Green wasn鈥檛 at the Wednesday meeting in person 鈥 she called in 鈥 and her office said she has not yet indicated whether she would sign the agreement.
