Car dealer fights Manchester mall

By Phil Sutin

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

09/18/2005



MANCHESTER Jim Butler has dug in his heels against a redevelopment plan in Manchester that would force him to sell his Saturn dealership at Manchester Road and Highway 141 to Pace Properties Inc. The ground mainly would become part of the parking lot of the Brentwood developer's 70-acre Manchester Highlands shopping center.



"I do not want to sell the property," Butler said Friday. "I will do everything within reason to keep it."



However, Manchester Mayor Larry Miles said, "We're not going to have anyone holding up the project because he doesn't want to sell." He noted, "We have 35 residents who have agreed to sell and we would like to move forward." Butler, he said, is standing in the way of progress and change.



The mayor said Pace Properties might have to use eminent domain to obtain all properties it needs that front on Manchester Road, except for the Eagle Bank site.

Pace Properties seeks to build a $131.5 million shopping center on the northeast corner of Manchester and Highway 141. It is asking for $29.5 million in tax-increment financing from Manchester and about $17 million from a transportation development district. The center would have 476,719 square feet of commercial space.



A site plan shows a Costco discount department store as the main anchor, with a building of 143,463 square feet. The shopping center also would have about 20 other buildings. Miles said Pace Properties might announce other store tenants in October.



The city's Tax Increment Financing Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposal on Thursday. The session starts at 7 p.m. at Manchester United Methodist Church, 129 Woods Mill Road, Manchester.



The project is likely to come up at an aldermanic meeting today, when Alderman Bob Tullock, 1st Ward, tries to persuade the board to pass a bill that would prohibit eminent domain for economic development purposes. The aldermanic meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.



Butler's Saturn of West County dealership has been at the intersection of Manchester and Highway 141 since 1992. He said he has spent up to $5 million to build and upgrade it. He had the interior renovated last year.



"I've put a lot of sweat, effort and money" into the dealership, he said.



Butler explained Saturn dealerships have large territories compared with his competitors. He said the one for his company runs from Kirkwood to Clarkson Road and from Highway 40 to Interstate 44.



Its location is on the "perfect corner," he said. "It is a very profitable dealership," he said.



Miles said the dealership provides little tax benefit to the city. Manchester only receives sales tax revenue from the sales of parts or vehicles to city residents. Under state law, the local sales tax from vehicle purchases goes to the municipalities where buyers live.



As costs go up, the city needs a project such as Manchester Highlands to provide a cushion of additional income, the mayor said.



Rick Randall, vice president for development of Pace Properties, said talk of eminent domain was very premature.



Pace Properties has control of 95 percent of the properties on the site via contracts, he said.



The developer hopes to "complete all contingencies and move forward" by late spring of next year. Construction that would follow would take 1 1/2 years, he said.



The shopping center would be in Tullock's ward. The alderman said he had discussed eminent domain with his constituents for the last three or four months.



"I don't think it is right to take private property away for economic purposes, nor do my constituents," Tullock said.



psutin@post-dispatch.com 314-863-2812