51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Developer Paul McKee鈥檚 NorthSide Regeneration faces a court order to repair and secure a historic Page Boulevard auto dealership it owns, a ruling that could prompt other lawsuits against the controversial north 51黑料 landowner.

51黑料 Circuit Court Judge Michael Stelzer ruled Thursday that the Covenant Blu Grand Center Neighborhood Association had proven that NorthSide鈥檚 building at 3509 Page Boulevard met Missouri law鈥檚 definition of a nuisance property. The ruling marks the first time the courts have stepped in to compel the city鈥檚 highest-profile private owner of vacant properties to stabilize one of its many deteriorating buildings.

The neighborhood association filed a lawsuit in October 2022 asking for the court to force NorthSide to address city code violations levied against the building over a nearly 10-year period, including two condemnations 鈥� in 2014 and then in 2017 鈥� for unsafe conditions.

Stelzer鈥檚 ruling should spur NorthSide 鈥渢o fix up the property or sell it to someone who will,鈥� said Peter Hoffman, an attorney with the nonprofit Legal Services of Eastern Missouri who represented the neighborhood association. It won鈥檛 be able to demolish the structure, the former ABC Auto Sales building built in 1927, without special city approval because it is on the National Register of Historic Places.

鈥淚f the owners don鈥檛 abate the nuisance conditions additional penalties will be on the table,鈥� Hoffman said. 鈥淲e also hope that this sends a message to these owners that this type of neglect is just not acceptable. It鈥檚 harmful to the neighborhood and the city and it鈥檚 unlawful. Their inaction has consequences.鈥�

Audrey Ellermann, president of the Covenant Blu Grand Center Neighborhood Association, said residents were 鈥渆cstatic鈥� about the ruling. The structure, which sits across from the 51黑料 Housing Authority鈥檚 headquarters and a PNC Bank branch near North Grand Boulevard, has been deteriorating since NorthSide bought it in 2009. It has gotten so bad in recent years that its crumbling fa莽ade has blocked pedestrian use of the sidewalk.

鈥淚t鈥檚 right at the main entrance of the neighborhood,鈥� Ellermann said. 鈥淚t defines the neighborhood.鈥�

McKee and his attorney who handled the case, Joe Dulle of law firm Stone, Leyton and Gershman, did not respond to a question asking whether NorthSide would repair the property or appeal the ruling.

NorthSide could have addressed the property conditions during the lawsuit, Hoffman said, but it argued the lawsuit should be thrown out on legal technicalities, which Stelzer dismissed. James Bax, another Legal Services attorney who is working on the case, noted the neighborhood鈥檚 lawyers had to ask for court sanctions to even get responses to its April discovery requests.

鈥淭o say it鈥檚 been a fight would be somewhat of an understatement,鈥� Bax said.

Stelzer鈥檚 ruling also awarded the neighborhood attorney鈥檚 fees for the case. Hoffman said those could already be around 鈥渟ix figures.鈥�

鈥淚f they want to further litigate this, the meter will be running,鈥� he said.

Legal Services鈥� Neighborhood Advocacy division, which Hoffman runs, has filed a handful of lawsuits against absentee landowners on behalf of neighborhood groups as part of its problem property initiative. But the Covenant Blu neighborhood鈥檚 lawsuit was the first time Legal Services attorneys took aim at NorthSide, which owns over 1,600 properties and has stoked controversy for years.

In November, another neighborhood association, the 51黑料 Place Community Association, sued NorthSide to force repairs on four properties in its boundaries near the under-construction National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency headquarters.

Hoffman said he suspects more lawsuits could be filed this year and that other neighborhood groups dealing with neglected NorthSide properties can contact Legal Services.

In the mid-2000s, NorthSide began buying up thousands of properties north of downtown. It had the blessing of City Hall at first, reaching deals to add to its holdings with major purchases of abandoned properties from the city鈥檚 land bank.

After it amassed land encompassing more than 200 acres in some of the city鈥檚 most hollowed-out neighborhoods, complaints from remaining residents over property conditions began mounting. Promised developments never materialized.

NorthSide was among the initial proponents of pitching the NGA on a new site in north 51黑料. But after the city got on board with the plan, contentious negotiations to assemble the land for the federal government 鈥� including buying back real estate the city had sold to NorthSide just a few years before 鈥� further strained the relationship.

Allegations of tax credit fraud聽sullied the company鈥檚 reputation further.

By 2018, the city cancelled a development agreement with NorthSide covering much of the area.

But the city has largely been unable to force NorthSide to remedy dangerous property conditions at its properties. It has cited and fined NorthSide dozens of times over conditions at the Page Avenue building and the company鈥檚 failure to address them.

The Covenant Blu lawsuit, however, contains potential mechanisms to force action, which still need to be litigated. For one, it asks the court to hold McKee personally liable for the repairs to the ABC Auto building, claiming NorthSide is 鈥渋nsolvent.鈥� It also asks the court to appoint a receiver to take over the building and abate the nuisance conditions, something the neighborhood may pursue if it has to.

鈥淭his litigation could go on quite a bit longer,鈥� Hoffman said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 have to. If he wants to donate the property I鈥檓 sure the neighborhood association could help find somebody to take it and redevelop that site. But if he continues to sit on his hands, I think that鈥檚 when we鈥檒l have to explore these options with the court.鈥�