Evolution of the 'cave' man



Armed with technology, 'Citizens Against Virtually Everything' rise up against developers



St. Louis Business Journal

February 16, 2007

by Lisa R. Brown



In the face of hundreds of millions of dollars of redevelopment activity in the St. Louis area in recent years, a vehemence against commercial development has risen to new levels.



Just in the last month, Paul McKee Jr. has been accused of planning to "bulldoze the ghetto," and Chris Goodson's site for a new development on downtown's edge was picketed on the same day plans were unveiled.

Gundaker Commercial Group's Mike Hejna denounced the new force in development: "CAVE" men, or "Citizens Against Virtually Everything."



Hejna made the comments to a group of real estate brokers Feb. 6 after detailing the several-years-long process of getting his and Duke Realty's $750 million Premier 370 business park approved in St. Peters.



Anti-development sentiment has risen to a level beyond civil discourse, to a point where developers have received threats at their homes. And this opposition is harder to overcome with the Internet as a tool -- it's hard to fight an opponent you can't see or identify.



"Because of the blogosphere, it exaggerates things," said Stephen Acree, president of the Regional Housing and Community Development Alliance (RHCDA). "The folks that are most vocal on the blogs are not necessarily part of the neighborhood organizations that are working in the community to build it."



Fears over eminent domain and the proliferation of blogs on the Internet have created a difficult environment for developers, said Marian Nunn, chief operating officer of St. Louis-based THF Realty, one of the largest private commercial developers in the country.



"There seems to be heightened alertness on the part of the public when you need to tear anything down, even if it has to be torn down," Nunn said. "The Internet has really created a whole new venue for people who are misinformed to communicate on a large scale. It's very mean spirited, and they don't have to do it face to face or face rebuttal."



In the most recent example, developer McKee found himself in a firestorm of public opinion and misinformation proliferated through fliers, over the Internet and in the media. A group, under the name Citizens for the Near Northside, says McKee, chairman of McEagle Properties, acquired more than 1,000 acres in that area with plans to demolish blocks of homes, churches and businesses.



A representative of the group handed out fliers with the claims before the Feb. 9 Board of Aldermen meeting at City Hall. The flier claimed a group called Blairmont, led by McKee, plans to "bulldoze the ghetto." It listed a fraud hotline and directed people to call local authorities. No one answered repeated phone calls to a number listed on the flier.



McKee said the claims are false. He said he has acquired properties on the North Side in recent years, but owns less than 75 acres. His idea, he said, was to develop small pockets of commercial real estate to spur economic development in an economically distressed area. He said those plans may now be unattainable.



"I was somewhat surprised at the 'campaign' to uncover the assemblage," McKee said in a statement released Feb. 13. "An action was taking place that should have been viewed as positive by those with an understanding of development and an understanding of why north St. Louis has not historically attracted the large-scale reconstruction effort it deserves."



Fierce opposition against development projects is increasingly swift. On Feb. 9, the same day developer Goodson's Gilded Age announced plans for its $80 million mixed-use project in the 1500 block of Lafayette Avenue near Lafayette Square, a group of more than 20 people attended the city's Board of Aldermen meeting with anti-eminent domain signs. The city of St. Louis, through its Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, has sent letters to homeowners in recent weeks about obtaining properties to be part of a second phase, but has not initiated eminent domain proceedings.



The DESCO Group and DFC Group battled in court for years over their demolition of the Century Building at Ninth and Olive streets downtown. The building was demolished in 2004 to make way for a parking garage, as part of the redevelopment of the Old Post Office. After more than a year of public meetings, the demolition of the Century Building was approved on the federal, state and city levels, as the more than 100-year-old building was already under a final demolition order for being unsafe. But then, multiple lawsuits were filed against the project. All were dismissed. The developers are now fighting back, and pursuing claims of malicious prosecution against two of the losing litigants, Marcia Behrendt and Roger Plackemeier. "Developers understand there is a public component for opposition and support that is fair game. We expect that," said Steve Stogel, president of DFC Group. "In our case, these lawsuits delayed the project two years and cost the project millions of dollars, and that is not fair game."



Halted plans

McKee is now trying to set the record straight, including the claim that he plans a second WingHaven in the city of St. Louis. WingHaven, developed by McEagle in St. Charles County, covers 1,200 acres with new homes, offices and retail space.





Instead, McKee, who grew up on the city's North Side, said he wanted to take on efforts started by the nonprofit group St. Louis 2004 in the late 1990s to revitalize portions of north St. Louis. McKee said he hoped that other developers also would help transform parts of north St. Louis.



In 2002, McKee began buying properties on the North Side, none larger than 7 acres. "My group does not own or control concentrations of property within these areas which will allow it to do the type of meaningful development that it was interested in when it began its acquisition of abandoned land and buildings several years ago," he said. The area in which McKee has purchased property parcels is bounded by North Grand Boulevard to the west, Branch Street to the north, Interstate 70 to the east and Delmar Boulevard to the south.



The city of St. Louis has targeted portions of the area for redevelopment, including the former Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex site at 2300 Cass Ave. The city's economic development arm, the St. Louis Development Corp., has not yet decided to issue a request for proposals for the site, which is one of the largest development sites in the city. "The Pruitt-Igoe site, at 33 acres, has a great deal of potential for commercial development," said Deputy Mayor Barb Geisman. "Its environmental challenges will make it difficult and expensive to develop residentially. This is one of the few sites in the city that is both large and available."



Attracting a developer to the site in light of recent vocal opposition to redevelopment efforts on the North Side may prove difficult. McKee, however, said he hasn't abandoned plans to redevelop in north St. Louis. He said he plans to meet with representatives from neighborhood organizations and hopes other developers will come forward. "I am dubious about my chances for successfully pressing forward as an assembler, but I am interested in combining with other landowners and with others who are willing to acquire abandoned buildings in the unpopulated areas of north St. Louis."



A vicious circle

The RHCDA's Acree said he doesn't think the vocal opposition to McEagle's development plans will deter development on the North Side.



"The negativity that has been out there is mainly generated by the fact that people don't know what's been going on, but developers need to keep quiet for acquisition purposes. It's a vicious circle," he said.



Because there is more development under way and because conflict is news, it may seem like there is more opposition, said Mayor Francis Slay's chief of staff, Jeff Rainford. "Anything big, bold and new is going to be controversial. Think about the new ballpark, Ballpark Village, Washington Avenue and the Old Post Office redevelopment. All of them are good for the city. All of them faced significant opposition."



Rainford said the mayor's office will continue to push to attract commercial development to the city. "The city of St. Louis emptied out between 1950 and 2000," Rainford said. "It lost two-thirds of its population, thousands of businesses and jobs. Abandoned property still litters many city neighborhoods. The city needs new investment and more jobs. Almost everyone in the city understands that and wants it to happen. We simply have to stand up to the very small number of people who are fighting progress for their own financial or political gain."

Gundaker Commercial Group's Mike Hejna denounced the new force in development: "CAVE" men, or "Citizens Against Virtually Everything."



Hejna made the comments to a group of real estate brokers Feb. 6 after detailing the several-years-long process of getting his and Duke Realty's $750 million Premier 370 business park approved in St. Peters.

This from a man who like to develop in flood plains...from St. Peters to Chesterfield Valley. If I had a label for him, since he likes applying labels, it would be "Irresponsible".

Ironically all those "CAVE" people exposed McKee and forced him to admit assembling parcels of land in North City. This would not have happened without bloggers noticing his decaying properties and eventually the mainstream media picking it up.

1) He said he has acquired properties on the North Side in recent years, but owns less than 75 acres .... In 2002, McKee began buying properties on the North Side, none larger than 7 acres



2) "The negativity that has been out there is mainly generated by the fact that people don't know what's been going on, but developers need to keep quiet for acquisition purposes. It's a vicious circle," he said.

Jeff wrote:This article is ridiculous.

ThreeOneFour wrote:

Jeff wrote:This article is ridiculous.

Wow, this is an article after all! I thought it was an op-ed upon first glance, which says it all IMHO.

So the question is: Does St. Louis have more than its share of "CAVE" men?



We're not talking about the usual Neanderthals who only care about where you went to high school, think women should be barefoot and pregnant, and carry socially inappropriate and morally imbalanced biases against anyone who isn't exactly like them.



This community has been dealing with those guys for years.



No, the "CAVE" men of today are "Citizens Against Virtually Everything." CAVE. Get it?



We think St. Louis has more than its share, partially because of what's happening globally and, more important, what's happening locally.



The Internet and its blogs make Thomas Paine look like a whisperer. Paul Revere would have pressed "reply all" rather than ride around Boston to warn its citizenry. Technology makes it easy to protest publicly and still be relatively anonymous.



That's happening all over the world.



What's unique to St. Louis is that the city is at a tipping point, as development both downtown and in the neighborhoods is threatening to turn St. Louis into a diverse and prosperous environment.



Property values are rising with the cranes. Suburban developers such as Paul McKee's McEagle are viewing city developments.



How do we greet them? With protests and unseemly jibes.

Five people with placards cannot stop progress, Sen. John Danforth has said. Thanks to the Internet, the voices of a few echo through cyberspace and turn up on cell phones and computer screens as well as in traditional media.



Dialogue is important in democracy. So is civility.



A decade or so ago, there wasn't that much to fight over in the city. The first era of urban developers didn't have the money to do much else and needed the government subsidies and incentives. We call them pioneers.



So now the real deal shows up -- developers with experience and expertise who see the city as a viable destination. We treat them with disdain.



That doesn't make sense.



The real CAVE men were our prehistoric ancestors. The current CAVE men can mar our city's future.



It's a chicken/egg conundrum. Are developers coy because they fear the CAVE men's responses or are the CAVE men so boorish because the developers play it close to the vest.



A little bit of both, probably.



There's too much on the line to sigh and shrug. That's the thing about a tipping point. It can go either way. For the entire region and especially the city to prosper, it's time to stand up to the CAVE men and drive them back underground where they belong.

STLgasm wrote:^^So bad I can't even comment.

Are developers coy because they fear the CAVE men's responses or are the CAVE men so boorish because the developers play it close to the vest.



A little bit of both, probably.

But, if someone wants to build in Chesterfield Valley and has investors willing to bankroll it - fine.