A St. Louis judge has cleared the way for the city to acquire 89 blighted properties through eminent domain, advancing efforts to redevelop land long held by developer Paul McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration.
Circuit Judge Thomas McCarthy ruled Tuesday that the city’s Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority can proceed with condemning and acquiring the parcels, most of which are owned by NorthSide Regeneration.
The ruling marks a step in the city’s longtime effort to spur development north of downtown, where McKee began acquiring land nearly 20 years ago.
“Real development is on the way. Our neighborhoods have waited long enough,” Alderman Rasheen Aldridge wrote on his Facebook page Wednesday.
“For nearly 20 years, McKee has been buying up land across north city and letting it sit while Jeff-Vander-Lou, St. Louis Place, and Carr Square waited for the development that was promised and never came … yesterday’s ruling means that fight is working,” Aldridge wrote.
McKee began buying land in North St. Louis about two decades ago with ambitious plans for redevelopment. In 2009, the city approved $390 million in tax increment financing for the project. Three years later, the city’s land bank and other redevelopment agencies agreed to sell NorthSide more than 1,200 properties covering 160 acres.
The promised development largely failed to materialize, and the city declared NorthSide in default of its redevelopment agreement in 2018.
The latest ruling may not end the legal battle. Attorney Paul Puricelli, who represents NorthSide Regeneration and the Bank of Washington, told St. Louis Public Radio that he plans to appeal.
Many of the 89 parcels are in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood near the new $1.75 billion National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency campus.
The ruling does not immediately transfer ownership of the properties to the city. The court will appoint three neutral commissioners to determine their value. The city can take possession after the commissioners submit their report and the redevelopment authority pays the required amount to the circuit clerk.
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.