Part of the State of Missouri Tax Increment Financing (TIF) law also allows for eminent domain to be used to support private development projects. What essentially happens is that the local or state government approves a redevelopment agreement and TIF financing for a project and the developer can then ask the government to take private property within the area of the TIF supported project. If the government agrees (it almost always does) then the government seizes the property and sells it to the developer for the offer price.
If the owner of the seized property does not think the price reflects the actual value of the property then they go to court to get a higher price. Notice I didn’t say they go to court to fight the taking of their property. Currently, it is not possible to contest the taking under Missouri law after the legislation, local or state, authorizing the TIF and redevelopment agreement have been passed and signed into law. It’s only possible to contest the price. And you are only awarded market value of the property when you do win. So legal fees come out of what you win, as do any other costs you bear to fight for the fair price for your property. Even if you win in court, you still don’t get everything to which you would be entitled if you sold it willingly without eminent domain.
This is truly a lot of what we are fighting for. Simple property rights. The right to live unmolested in your own home, or operate your business on your property, without having to move on just because the government decided to give your property to someone else who is promising that they will do something with the property that will generate increased taxes. Note that I said “promising”. They don’t have to prove anything. They just have to present the documentation required by the TIF statute and the government has to approve it. Once that is done, anyone in the way of a proposed development is basically out of luck. There are essentially no standards in place for how rigorous that documentation has to be. Being unreasonable in light of actual financial conditions will not invalidate it. And only having vague promises by some random Podunk bank to finance only part of the project will also not invalidate it.
This is where our local government comes in. Our Board of Aldermen and Mayor wholeheartedly approved this project just last year. None of the Alderpersons I spoke to before the vote to approve this project had the least concerns that it might go sour; not the 5th ward Alderperson April Ford-Griffin, not the 19th ward Alderperson Marlene Davis, nor any of the others. In fact Alderperson Davis told me personally that she wasn’t concerned about any problems because “the lawyers would write the agreements so that the city couldn’t be hurt”. It seems her confidence was misplaced in at least a couple different such projects like the Bottle District (city now being sued for over $2.2 million) and One City Center where the developer went under (but not before the city guaranteed the repayment of the TIF bonds with general revenue funds). So who’s incompetent? The city lawyers drafting the agreements or the politicians approving them. I vote for both.
Other wholehearted supporters of the project on the Board of Aldermen were Casey Starr-Triplett, Freeman Bosley, Sr., and Steven Conway. I wonder if they all supported the Bottle District fiasco just as much?
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Part 2 of How We Got Here
In late 2009 several individuals who are members of the Northside Community Benefits Alliance took up the opportunity to sue the city on the ground that the approval by the City of St Louis of the TIF application filed by Northside Regeneration, LLC and Paul McKee, Jr. was illegitimate. They are Bonzilla Smith, Isaiah Hairis, and Cheryl Nelson. Also joining the suit with other legal representation was Elke McIntosh.
The original plaintiffs are represented by attorney Dorian Amon. He is lifetime St Louis resident and graduate of the Washington University School of Law. He is also dedicated to fighting the abuse of power represented by real estate development projects such as the Northside Project.
Representing the joining plaintiff are attorney’s Eric Vickers, W. Bevis Schock, and James W. Schottel, Jr. Eric Vickers is a former St Louis City Attorney. W. Bevis Schock is a board member of the local Show-Me Institute, a libertarian advocacy organization.
All plaintiffs sought to invalidate the ordinances that authorized public support for this project. This public support came in the form of almost $400 million of tax increment financing and a redevelopment agreement with Northside Regeneration, LLC covering the 2.5 square miles mentioned in yesterday’s post. The redevelopment agreement qualified Northside Regeneration to access a $95 million state tax credit program that reimburses the developer for half of any acquisition costs, all maintenance costs (grass cutting and board-up for example) and very importantly any interest costs incurred on borrowings to purchase the property. This tax credit is called the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit or the McKee Tax Credit since he’s the only one in the state who could qualify for it and his lawyer Steve Stone of Stone, Leyton, and Gershman wrote it for the State Senator who sponsored it and got it passed.
One of the key provisions of this tax credit is that it covers interest costs. Thus, any loans for assembling the land for the project are without cost and create an enormous incentive not to have any equity in the project at all. You have to have some amount of seed money, but if you find a lender willing to finance 100% of your costs at this point you can pull all of that equity back out for use elsewhere. Apparently, Bank of Washington in Washington, MO is such a bank. As was Cornbelt Bank and Trust of Pittsfield, IL who also lent Mr. McKee money for this project.
I recommend you check out Bank of Washington on bankrate.com. One ratio of a bank’s solvency is the Texas Ratio. That ratio is the dollar value of bad loans and real estate taken back because of bad loans divided by money the owners have in the bank and the money bank management has set aside to cover future bad loans. Bank of Washington’s Texas Ratio places them as one of the 50 least solvent banks in Missouri. There are over 250 banks in Missouri so this places them firmly in the bottom fifth of all Missouri banks in terms of solvency as judged by that ratio. They also have taken $20 million in TARP funds as part of the US Treasury’s capital purchase program. $20 million is one quarter of their equity and means that we, as taxpayers own about 25% of Bank of Washington. Without this $20 million dollars of public money invested in Bank of Washington their Texas Ratio would be even worse than it is.
Unfortunately, you can’t check out Cornbelt Bank and Trust on bankrate.com. Cornbelt doesn’t exist any more. They were seized by the FDIC in late 2008 because of insolvency. Cornbelt and Bank of Washinton were the two banks that lent to Mr. McKee for his Northside Project. One is out of business, one is not feeling very well, so to speak.
When you look at all the McKee projects in the area, you are left with the distinct feeling that Mr. McKee’s track record is, at the very best, a mixed one. Hazelwood Logistics Center is falling apart. He has abandoned various Winghaven businesses he was a driving force in. North Park is primarily still vacant land and without Express Scripts (who get a state subsidy every time they ask) it would be much more vacant than it is. He seems to have borrowed more money against vacant land in Illinois (corner of Greenmount Road and Frank Scott Parkway south of O’fallon) than he paid for it. Nothing is happening there and with the economic recovery in slow motion and Mr. McKee's financial problems nothing probably will any time soon.
More tomorrow.
The original plaintiffs are represented by attorney Dorian Amon. He is lifetime St Louis resident and graduate of the Washington University School of Law. He is also dedicated to fighting the abuse of power represented by real estate development projects such as the Northside Project.
Representing the joining plaintiff are attorney’s Eric Vickers, W. Bevis Schock, and James W. Schottel, Jr. Eric Vickers is a former St Louis City Attorney. W. Bevis Schock is a board member of the local Show-Me Institute, a libertarian advocacy organization.
All plaintiffs sought to invalidate the ordinances that authorized public support for this project. This public support came in the form of almost $400 million of tax increment financing and a redevelopment agreement with Northside Regeneration, LLC covering the 2.5 square miles mentioned in yesterday’s post. The redevelopment agreement qualified Northside Regeneration to access a $95 million state tax credit program that reimburses the developer for half of any acquisition costs, all maintenance costs (grass cutting and board-up for example) and very importantly any interest costs incurred on borrowings to purchase the property. This tax credit is called the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit or the McKee Tax Credit since he’s the only one in the state who could qualify for it and his lawyer Steve Stone of Stone, Leyton, and Gershman wrote it for the State Senator who sponsored it and got it passed.
One of the key provisions of this tax credit is that it covers interest costs. Thus, any loans for assembling the land for the project are without cost and create an enormous incentive not to have any equity in the project at all. You have to have some amount of seed money, but if you find a lender willing to finance 100% of your costs at this point you can pull all of that equity back out for use elsewhere. Apparently, Bank of Washington in Washington, MO is such a bank. As was Cornbelt Bank and Trust of Pittsfield, IL who also lent Mr. McKee money for this project.
I recommend you check out Bank of Washington on bankrate.com. One ratio of a bank’s solvency is the Texas Ratio. That ratio is the dollar value of bad loans and real estate taken back because of bad loans divided by money the owners have in the bank and the money bank management has set aside to cover future bad loans. Bank of Washington’s Texas Ratio places them as one of the 50 least solvent banks in Missouri. There are over 250 banks in Missouri so this places them firmly in the bottom fifth of all Missouri banks in terms of solvency as judged by that ratio. They also have taken $20 million in TARP funds as part of the US Treasury’s capital purchase program. $20 million is one quarter of their equity and means that we, as taxpayers own about 25% of Bank of Washington. Without this $20 million dollars of public money invested in Bank of Washington their Texas Ratio would be even worse than it is.
Unfortunately, you can’t check out Cornbelt Bank and Trust on bankrate.com. Cornbelt doesn’t exist any more. They were seized by the FDIC in late 2008 because of insolvency. Cornbelt and Bank of Washinton were the two banks that lent to Mr. McKee for his Northside Project. One is out of business, one is not feeling very well, so to speak.
When you look at all the McKee projects in the area, you are left with the distinct feeling that Mr. McKee’s track record is, at the very best, a mixed one. Hazelwood Logistics Center is falling apart. He has abandoned various Winghaven businesses he was a driving force in. North Park is primarily still vacant land and without Express Scripts (who get a state subsidy every time they ask) it would be much more vacant than it is. He seems to have borrowed more money against vacant land in Illinois (corner of Greenmount Road and Frank Scott Parkway south of O’fallon) than he paid for it. Nothing is happening there and with the economic recovery in slow motion and Mr. McKee's financial problems nothing probably will any time soon.
More tomorrow.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Part 1 of How We Got Here - The History of Our Struggle.
The Northside Community Benefits Alliance is a group of North St Louis neighbors who have organized in an effort to get a community benefits agreement between the city, the developer, and an independent non-profit organization. A community benefits agreement is just a contract that specifies what the developer and city can or will do with respect to the people who already live in a redevelopment area.
The reason why we organized was that from the very beginning of the developer’s property acquisition, it seemed that our elected officials were more interested in protecting the rights of the developer than our rights and property. Considering that we are the people they are supposed to represent, we did not look upon this kindly. At that point we decided that we needed to find another way to guarantee our economic security and property rights.
Anyone interested in becoming a member or assisting us in any way can contact us by sending an e-mail to info@northsidecba.org.
The development we banded together to change, is that proposed by Paul McKee, Jr. called the Northside Project. Mr. McKee is a St Louis developer who has put together various projects around the suburban St Louis area. He is also a former owner of Paric Construction, a St Louis based construction company now run by his son Paul McKee, III.
Paul McKee, Jr. is currently being sued in federal court over loans he personally guaranteed for part of his Hazelwood Logistics Center project. He seems to be unable or unwilling to pay off his $28 million loan balance so the bank that owns this loan, BankSouth, is suing him for the balance. He already walked away from another part of this project and gave it back to a different bank. That was a single warehouse and the other bank was ING.
Mr McKee was recently the subject of a St Louis Business Journal article detailing his stepping down from management of and walking away from ownership stakes in the Spa at Winghaven and the Winghaven Country Club. These ventures are pieces of his Winghaven development in St. Charles county. A development that also has not gone as originally planned financially despite massive state government subsidies to the tune of $40 million dollars granted to MasterCard International to move its headquarters from Maplewood to Winghaven.
Mr. McKee, along with his wife, sons, and what appears to be a family trust, are owners of Northside Regeneration, LLC. This is the development company they have organized to pursue their Northside Project. This project, as proposed, is an $8.1 billion project covering 2.5 square miles of part of downtown St Louis and the area immediately to the north of the entire downtown. Northside Regeneration, LLC is also partly owned (2.5%) by the Carr Square Tenant’s Association, the non-profit organization that manages the Carr Square Apartments. We wonder what magic made the McKee’s give 2.5% of their development project to a public housing tenant’s association.
More tomorrow.
The reason why we organized was that from the very beginning of the developer’s property acquisition, it seemed that our elected officials were more interested in protecting the rights of the developer than our rights and property. Considering that we are the people they are supposed to represent, we did not look upon this kindly. At that point we decided that we needed to find another way to guarantee our economic security and property rights.
Anyone interested in becoming a member or assisting us in any way can contact us by sending an e-mail to info@northsidecba.org.
The development we banded together to change, is that proposed by Paul McKee, Jr. called the Northside Project. Mr. McKee is a St Louis developer who has put together various projects around the suburban St Louis area. He is also a former owner of Paric Construction, a St Louis based construction company now run by his son Paul McKee, III.
Paul McKee, Jr. is currently being sued in federal court over loans he personally guaranteed for part of his Hazelwood Logistics Center project. He seems to be unable or unwilling to pay off his $28 million loan balance so the bank that owns this loan, BankSouth, is suing him for the balance. He already walked away from another part of this project and gave it back to a different bank. That was a single warehouse and the other bank was ING.
Mr McKee was recently the subject of a St Louis Business Journal article detailing his stepping down from management of and walking away from ownership stakes in the Spa at Winghaven and the Winghaven Country Club. These ventures are pieces of his Winghaven development in St. Charles county. A development that also has not gone as originally planned financially despite massive state government subsidies to the tune of $40 million dollars granted to MasterCard International to move its headquarters from Maplewood to Winghaven.
Mr. McKee, along with his wife, sons, and what appears to be a family trust, are owners of Northside Regeneration, LLC. This is the development company they have organized to pursue their Northside Project. This project, as proposed, is an $8.1 billion project covering 2.5 square miles of part of downtown St Louis and the area immediately to the north of the entire downtown. Northside Regeneration, LLC is also partly owned (2.5%) by the Carr Square Tenant’s Association, the non-profit organization that manages the Carr Square Apartments. We wonder what magic made the McKee’s give 2.5% of their development project to a public housing tenant’s association.
More tomorrow.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Things to come
O.k. The next few posts will be a history from the beginning to today.
In an effort to bring everyone up to speed who comes to our page, we'll start at the beginning and explain what we've done and where we've been. We'll also provide a little background so that people can learn who the players are and what they have done.
The first thing I'll post is a link to the first main-stream media article about this whole mess. It's called "Phantom of the Hood". It's from the Riverfront Times way back in 2007. I think I still have a copy of the original print edition somewhere. Even though this was before I had moved to North St Louis, and way before I had met anyone who lives in the footprint of what eventually was announced as Paul McKee, Jr.'s Northside Project, something about that article stuck with me.
Note I said "the footprint of what eventually was announced as Paul McKee, Jr's Northside Project". I did not say the neighborhood where my friend Sheila Rendon has lived all her life with her family; or where my friend Isaiah Hairis bought a brand new suburban style house about ten years ago that would be very nice but wholly unremarkable in any middle class suburb in the area; or the cop block where quite a few St Louis City police officers live; or the brewery apartments constructed around, and inside of, the old Falstaff Brewery.
So many people think it's a bombed out wasteland up here, and it's true there are those parts of the area that are like that. But there are also average people here just trying to make a life. Some have lived here since they were born, some have come much more recently. They deserve to be able to continue on with their lives without harm or financial penalty for choosing the wrong place to stand and try to build a community.
No one, whether they were born here or came later, was told when they chose to make this area their home, "Oh by the way...this place...it's temporary. Eventually, we'll replace this with something better, but we can't guarantee you'll be able to stay." What NSCBA wants is a fair deal for those people who have invested here no matter if they put down roots as a family, or they built a business here.
What we consider fair is just compensation to make everyone financially whole for any move if it comes to that. For a renter, this means moving expenses with a little extra for the hassle of moving, and help finding a comparable apartment elsewhere in the city or even the county if they choose to move there. For a home owner what this means is the ability to buy a comparable house in a neighborhood where they won't be chased out again, moving expenses, and a little extra for the hassle of uprooting yourself and family and settling in a different place. For a business owner or apartment building owner this means a high enough price for your property that you can easily afford a similar facility elsewhere, compensation for any disruption in your business, and a little extra for the hassle of moving. There should also be extra coverage for investors, since you've forced someone to liquidate an investment they found through their own and often not insignificant efforts and make those efforts all over again to find another investment. There should also be coverage of any contingency expenses that were due to the move but not anticipated prior to it. It's a simple concept, if government, through it's efforts to improve the city for everyone wishes to force some of it's citizens do something for the good of all, then the citizens who are affected should be made whole in any way they want. We'll all pay for it later in out taxes, and if it benefits everyone, then everyone should pay.
If the City of St Louis and a private developer they are empowering with a redevelopment agreement can't afford this type of compensation to residents, business owners, and investors who have stuck it out and been loyal to their community and city, then they can't afford the development. It's that simple. If the proposed development isn't financially viable enough to fund all such expenses, then it isn't just to shift those uncovered costs onto the people who live in the footprint of a proposed development now.
For these situations, I say build around anyone who doesn't want to sell at the price you offer. It's that simple. If you can't buy them out, build around them. It's cheaper, and fairer, and it can be done. Write their property out of the boundaries of the redevelopment agreement. It's been done before and can be again. That way, the people who have stuck it out, who have been loyal and patient, will not be abused by having to guess what will happen in the future. They will have certainty and know they are safe.
For those in city and state government; if you abuse ordinary people, you will never have their trust and they will always fight you. Just as we have.
You may sneer at our idealism, that we demand that government and society live up to its ideals, but without people who push, we would never have anything better. And we will keep pushing. All of us can do better.
Keith Marquard
Treasurer, NSCBA
In an effort to bring everyone up to speed who comes to our page, we'll start at the beginning and explain what we've done and where we've been. We'll also provide a little background so that people can learn who the players are and what they have done.
The first thing I'll post is a link to the first main-stream media article about this whole mess. It's called "Phantom of the Hood". It's from the Riverfront Times way back in 2007. I think I still have a copy of the original print edition somewhere. Even though this was before I had moved to North St Louis, and way before I had met anyone who lives in the footprint of what eventually was announced as Paul McKee, Jr.'s Northside Project, something about that article stuck with me.
Note I said "the footprint of what eventually was announced as Paul McKee, Jr's Northside Project". I did not say the neighborhood where my friend Sheila Rendon has lived all her life with her family; or where my friend Isaiah Hairis bought a brand new suburban style house about ten years ago that would be very nice but wholly unremarkable in any middle class suburb in the area; or the cop block where quite a few St Louis City police officers live; or the brewery apartments constructed around, and inside of, the old Falstaff Brewery.
So many people think it's a bombed out wasteland up here, and it's true there are those parts of the area that are like that. But there are also average people here just trying to make a life. Some have lived here since they were born, some have come much more recently. They deserve to be able to continue on with their lives without harm or financial penalty for choosing the wrong place to stand and try to build a community.
No one, whether they were born here or came later, was told when they chose to make this area their home, "Oh by the way...this place...it's temporary. Eventually, we'll replace this with something better, but we can't guarantee you'll be able to stay." What NSCBA wants is a fair deal for those people who have invested here no matter if they put down roots as a family, or they built a business here.
What we consider fair is just compensation to make everyone financially whole for any move if it comes to that. For a renter, this means moving expenses with a little extra for the hassle of moving, and help finding a comparable apartment elsewhere in the city or even the county if they choose to move there. For a home owner what this means is the ability to buy a comparable house in a neighborhood where they won't be chased out again, moving expenses, and a little extra for the hassle of uprooting yourself and family and settling in a different place. For a business owner or apartment building owner this means a high enough price for your property that you can easily afford a similar facility elsewhere, compensation for any disruption in your business, and a little extra for the hassle of moving. There should also be extra coverage for investors, since you've forced someone to liquidate an investment they found through their own and often not insignificant efforts and make those efforts all over again to find another investment. There should also be coverage of any contingency expenses that were due to the move but not anticipated prior to it. It's a simple concept, if government, through it's efforts to improve the city for everyone wishes to force some of it's citizens do something for the good of all, then the citizens who are affected should be made whole in any way they want. We'll all pay for it later in out taxes, and if it benefits everyone, then everyone should pay.
If the City of St Louis and a private developer they are empowering with a redevelopment agreement can't afford this type of compensation to residents, business owners, and investors who have stuck it out and been loyal to their community and city, then they can't afford the development. It's that simple. If the proposed development isn't financially viable enough to fund all such expenses, then it isn't just to shift those uncovered costs onto the people who live in the footprint of a proposed development now.
For these situations, I say build around anyone who doesn't want to sell at the price you offer. It's that simple. If you can't buy them out, build around them. It's cheaper, and fairer, and it can be done. Write their property out of the boundaries of the redevelopment agreement. It's been done before and can be again. That way, the people who have stuck it out, who have been loyal and patient, will not be abused by having to guess what will happen in the future. They will have certainty and know they are safe.
For those in city and state government; if you abuse ordinary people, you will never have their trust and they will always fight you. Just as we have.
You may sneer at our idealism, that we demand that government and society live up to its ideals, but without people who push, we would never have anything better. And we will keep pushing. All of us can do better.
Keith Marquard
Treasurer, NSCBA
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