51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� The Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council is suing 51黑料 developer Paul McKee and affiliated companies to recover $1.8 million stemming from a 2020 loan the union made for the sputtering Greenleaf Market grocery store north of downtown.

It鈥檚 the latest lawsuit from the Chicago-based union organization to clean up the finances of the defunct 51黑料-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council.

The parent union, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, dissolved the 51黑料-based regional council without warning in late 2021, ousting leader Al Bond and putting its operations under Chicago鈥檚 control.

For McKee, the lawsuit is another setback for his ambitious plans to redevelop a large swath of north 51黑料. He owns hundreds of acres north of downtown and helped assemble the site for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency鈥檚 new western headquarters. But he has faced criticism from neighbors and officials for neglecting his vast holdings, and the handful of developments he has actually built, including the Greenleaf grocery and a yet-to-open urgent care center, have struggled. Only a gas station McKee鈥檚 companies built across from the grocery store appears to be operating regularly.

In its lawsuit, filed in 51黑料 County Circuit Court last week, Mid-America said the 51黑料-based council made a $1.5 million loan in January 2020 to McKee and 51黑料 Grocery Group LLC. Also listed as borrowers were McKee鈥檚 wife, Marguerite, her trust and companies tied to the GreenLeaf project registered to Glenn Mitchell, the president of McKee鈥檚 M Property Services. Documents filed with the lawsuit say no payments have been made on the loan, which was due Jan. 31.

As collateral for the loan, McKee pledged his interest in an O鈥橣allon, Mo., office building at 2342 Technology Drive. But in December 2020, Simmons Bank foreclosed on that building. McKee鈥檚 companies never informed the 51黑料 council or obtained its consent to transfer the property, another breach of the loan agreement, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also raises further questions about the 51黑料 council鈥檚 accounting under Bond, whom the United Brotherhood of Carpenters accused of misappropriating funds and 鈥渄efrauding鈥� the union. Bond disclosed in documents filed in unrelated litigation last year that he faced investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, though it is unclear if any investigation is ongoing.

While the lawsuit says no payments had been made on the loan, documents filed with the Office of Labor Management Standards record a $424,000 payment on the loan sometime before July 2020, reducing the balance to a little under $1.1 million.

Yet after Mid-America took over, the loan balance reported on union disclosure forms increased to nearly $1.5 million and has remained at that amount as recently as June 30.

Mid-America, in its lawsuit, now says McKee and the other borrowers owe more than $1.8 million on the GreenLeaf loan. Lawyers for the Mid-America did not respond to questions about the loan balance discrepancies.

GreenLeaf Market opened in April 2019 to much fanfare, including an appearance by McKee ally and former U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay.

But more recently, it has stopped stocking shelves, its hours are irregular and the store鈥檚 parking lot is mostly empty.

Under Bond鈥檚 leadership, the 51黑料 council made loans to area developments to support construction projects that employed its members. But the loan to GreenLeaf was made after construction on the store had been complete for over six months. A lawyer for McKee previously said the financing was used to support the startup of the store鈥檚 operations.

In a statement Tuesday, McKee lawyer Joseph Dulle said McKee鈥檚 companies and the carpenters union have had 鈥渁 long and productive relationship that has created unprecedented man hours for union members.鈥� Operating urban grocery stores is a difficult business, he wrote, and the pandemic and high food costs have placed additional burdens on the store. But he said GreenLeaf is 鈥渞amping up operations鈥� and expects the 2025 opening of the NGA to provide a 鈥渕ajor boost.鈥�

鈥�51黑料 Grocery Group representatives had been in extended discussions with the attorney for the Carpenters and were under the impression that an extension of the loan was in the works,鈥� Dulle wrote. 鈥淚n light of past discussions with the Carpenters regarding other recently renewed loan facilities, we are confident that an accommodation can be reached in this matter.鈥�

The grocery loan wasn鈥檛 the only one the 51黑料 council made to McKee. The developer鈥檚 NorthSide Urgent Care LLC 鈥� the company behind the yet-to-open 3-bed hospital on North Jefferson Avenue branded as the Homer G. Phillips Memorial Hospital 鈥� owes nearly $3 million on a loan the council first made while Bond was still its leader. That loan matures in September 2025.

The two loans to McKee projects are by far the largest in the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council鈥檚 portfolio.

Mid-America also is in litigation over a $4 million billboard advertising deal Bond inked with two companies owned by James Neumann, who lawyers for the union say had a 鈥渃lose personal relationship鈥� with Bond.

Hannah Wyman of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.