ST. LOUIS • With legal roadblocks now behind it, Paul McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration is starting to get serious interest from retailers, food stores and “energy partners,†the developer told a city board Wednesday morning.
While no deals have been completed on sites around his 1,500-acre redevelopment area, McKee said he was hoping to announce some “smaller food stores†soon and is talking with energy companies — “solar, wind, water†— about providing renewable power in the area.
“All of a sudden, all of the stuff we’ve been talking about is live,†McKee said. “We’re not even out there selling it. We’re just getting phone calls.â€
McKee’s comments came during and after a meeting of the 51ºÚÁÏ Tax Increment Financing Commission, which the developer and city officials are asking to update the project’s nearly $400 million TIF package after the . The Commission scheduled a public hearing on the TIF for Aug. 28.
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The updates are mostly technical—“activating†parts of the TIF that cover the northern stretches of the project area, updating dates to reflect NorthSide’s three-year delay — and, if approved by the TIF Commission, they’ll go to the 51ºÚÁÏ Board of Aldermen in September.
McKee said he wanted to start street upgrades — funded by the TIF — by late fall. He also laid out plans to employ neighborhood residents in one-fourth of the jobs created in NorthSide, and said he was hoping to close several “eight to 10†more land purchases before the for the state’s Distressed Areas Land Assemblage tax credits.
But the most crucial work is happening behind the scenes, where McKee is trying to line up financing for the TIF. Only one lender — the Bank of Washington — has publicly committed to the project. He is talking to others, too.
“I work on that every day,†he said. “I hope to have it done by the end of the year.â€
Lenders would probably be more enthusiastic if McKee had tenants signed up. Five homebuilders have agreed to build a few blocks of houses in the 51ºÚÁÏ Place neighborhood, but nothing else has been publicly disclosed.
That could soon change, said Bill Laskowksy, chief development officer at McKee’s McEagle Properties.
“Without naming names, we’re getting great interest right now on the retail side,†he said. “We’re working some pretty good deals.â€
