The St. Louis Business Journal reported today that a lawsuit was filed on 10/13/04 by homeowners against the city of St. Louis, SLU, and Grand Center, Inc. With the lawsuit filed, the city cannot sell the bonds to cover the TIF.... effectively stalling $130 million in development projects, including the St. Louis University arena project. Other projects include the redevelopment of the Woolworth building and the redevelopment of the Moolah Temple into a residential/office complex.
Bad news. Everyone wants to know why the city has so much trouble attracting development. Its things like this that screw current plans up and discourage future plans.
Lawsuit stalls $130 million in development in Grand Center
Heather Cole and Margaret Jackson
For years, Frederick Medler has chronicled on a local Web site what he views as failings on the part of Grand Center, the mid-town arts district. But now that there are major improvements under way, the 26-year resident of the district has filed a lawsuit that has brought a halt to $130 million worth of projects.
THIS MAKES ME SO PISSED TODAY - I COULD SPIT BULLETS!
IT IS THE MOST REDICULOUS LAWSUIT I HAVE EVER HEARD.
"Residents" IS MY FAVORITE - RESIDENTS WHAT RESIDENTS? SOUNDS TO ME LIKE A FEW PEOPLE WHO HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS AND LIKE TO MAKE LIVING IN THE CITY A CONTROVERSIAL HELL AND HAVE SOMETHING TO GET BACK AT THE CITY/UNIVERSITY FOR.
HOW LONG WILL THIS GO ON FOR? WHEN WILL IT GO TO TRIAL?
WHAT CAN WE DO TO SUPPORT IT? A MIDTOWN/ARTS DISTRICT RALLY - OR "PICKET LINE" HOLDING UP SIGNS TO MIDTOWN THEATRE GOERS? I HOPE THIS GETS NEWS COVERAGE - OTHER THAN THE BUISINESS JOURNAL.
Medler seems to be an appropriate last name for that guy.
Almost as discouraging as the news of the lawsuit is Amrit Gill saying that he won't do any more projects in Grand Center. I have to wonder that if Grand Center Inc. did not have complete control over real estate in the district, if the Midtown area would be better off today. On the one hand, I'm sure they played a big role in the redevelopment of the Continental Building, but on the other, so little development has occurred there outside of the arts venues.
Why do they need TIFs anyways? SLU has enough money already milking those poor students w/ high tuition costs....they should be able to pay for this arena themselves.
With about $120 million in Grand Center developments in limbo, a federal judge abstained from taking jurisdiction of a lawsuit filed to stop the projects. That leaves the fate of the case for the state circuit court to decide. At issue is the tax increment financing, or TIF, district created in Grand Center in 2002.
Overall, at least 11 projects and $25 million in TIF disbursements have been suspended by the dispute. The holdup threatens the continued redevelopment of the arts district, which is key to linking two historic areas of the city that have undergone a renaissance in recent years -- the Central West End to the west and the Washington Avenue loft district to the east.
Grand Center's court victory resurrects $130 million in projects
From the July 22, 2005 print edition
Lisa R. Brown
Opponents of the Grand Center TIF District who filed a lawsuit last fall were dealt a blow by the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, which ruled the TIF ordinances issued by the city are valid and enforceable.
At issue were ordinances the city enacted in 2003 establishing the Grand Center TIF, which would grant Saint Louis University $8 million in TIF dollars for its planned $70 million arena and TIF funds for other developments in the district. As many as 11 projects slated for the Midtown arts district and $25 million in TIF disbursements were suspended pending the dispute's outcome.
Thank goodness. Now all these projects can finally move ahead. I don't like hearing that SLU is going to wait at least a year before moving forward on Grand and Lindell though.
The following is an op-ed from this weeks Business Journal. I think it makes some great points however those who are currently trying to raise defense funds for the Century Building lawsuit might not think so........
Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer's definitive decision in favor of St. Louis University, and implicitly Grand Center, Steve Trampe, Vince Schoemehl, the city of St. Louis and boosters of arts and entertainment, is a boon for progress.
But why, you have to ask, does it take such effort to move forward even incrementally?
Not only was the lawsuit filed by the Masonic Temple Association of Greater St. Louis resoundingly decided in favor of the university, the Masons have to pick up the tab for the court costs.
That was one victory in one court.
It is time for our region and our citizens to look to another arena: the court of public opinion.
While the First Amendment stands as one of the bastions of our democratic process, we in St. Louis are using the courts to legislate, not litigate.
The massive TIF (tax increment financing) package developed by Grand Center was adopted by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen after a series of lengthy hearings. Those who opposed the TIF had the opportunity to participate in the hearings and convince the aldermen of the error of their ways. If they oppose the actions of their elected officials, there is another judgment day, election day. That's where public policy should be debated, not in the courtroom.
You might think the naysayers had learned their lesson, but their attorney says he will appeal Judge Ohmer's decision. Reading the 19-page document makes it difficult to see on what grounds an appeal will be made because the ruling is anything but equivocal.
As developer Steve Trampe points out rather plaintively, "banks won't talk to you seriously when there's a lawsuit that affects the property." The mere filing of a suit effectively delays a project and can add costs that stop it altogether, regardless of the merits of the arguments -- or lack thereof.
If you stand still in today's world, you go backwards by virtue of the fact that other cities are moving forward.
The promise of Grand Center lives up to its name. This fall the Symphony will host a new conductor who is lauded to be his generation's Leonard Bernstein. It would be as though the next Babe Ruth was in the Cardinals' lineup. Indeed, some say Albert Pujols could be that legend.
How do we greet him and his backers? With lawsuits filed against St. Louis County's participation in funding the stadium.
Whether it's the stadium, Grand Center or our new home, the Old Post Office, St. Louis fights progress in the courtroom. Progress usually wins, but at what price?
How do we expect to lure new developers to a community that rebuffs our own?
Former Senator Jack Danforth repeatedly has warned us against "five people with placards" standing in the way of progress. It seems there really are only a handful, but until the rest of us let them know that we want a community that thrives, plays music and baseball and wants to rid ourselves of shabby living room furniture in exchange for the best seats in the house, we'll be left standing outside the stadium or the symphony hall waiting for a ticket to the best show in town.
Grand Center's TIF did have public meetings and received community support. The Biz Journals other examples of the Stadium and the Old Post Office are respectively weaker and absent.
The Stadium's deal was done in the 11th-hour to precede a successful citywide referendum (Prop S) that would require a public vote on future subsidies. A reduced amusement tax, however, for the City remains a much better deal than the extravagant subsidies first proposed by the Cards' owners. The lawsuit plantiffs referred to in the Biz Journal are actually in the County, concerning its Council's authorization to bond the stadium with hotel/tourist taxes.
However, the Old Post Office was done in spite of the guidance for no garages about OPO inthe Downtown Plan. This plan was publicly developed and adopted in 1999 and 2000. So, here, suit plantiffs were actually trying to uphold a well-thought-out plan for its public benefits (vital streetlife, quality urban design, OPO's intact surroundings, architectural heritage). But the insider deal for hizzoner's campaign contributors (Stogel et al) prevailed. And thus, we're giving state (MDFB) and developer fee subsidies for a project (9th St. garage-mahal) actually going against the Downtown Plan. But of course, exceptions are continually made for the in-crowd.
Saint Louis University has raised $22 million, or nearly two-thirds of its fund-raising goal of $35 million, for a new arena on campus.
That amount is up $10 million from eight months ago. At the current pace, the university expects to break ground next spring on the $70 million project on the eastern edge of its midtown campus, said Rev. Lawrence Biondi, president of SLU.
That's good news for them. They desperately need their own arena that won't drown out their crowd. They draw a respectable 7,000 on average for men's basketball and in the proposed arena it will create a better college basketball atmosphere.
It will definitely help them with recruiting in the A-10.
Up until about three years ago, we used to get an average of about 10,000 fans per game, and during the Spoonhour years, we had one of the highest attendance rates in the NCAA. Unfortunately now, while we're down, the Savvis feels so empty, and it makes for a poor environment.
Personally, I would have preferred to have a smaller venue - around 10,000 seats - to help create a more intimate atmosphere. Either way, the new arena will really help attendance, particularly with the students.
While it's nice to be able to drink beer at Building Formerly Known as Savvis/Kiel while watching the Bills...I've always wanted them to have their own place. I've played on the court there, and it's an awful place to play. I was known as a good 3 point shooter and it's really difficult to focus on the rim with the deep background that the BFKASK provides.
Yeah, but the problem was that the Bills didn't get to practice there very often, maybe a handful of times a year...so that didn't allow them much of a homecourt. I'd rather the Home Court Advantage be 10,000 screaming students right on top of you and your bench.
Everyone I've heard from at SLU seems very optimistic that the groundbreaking will be sometime in spring 06. Apparently they're very close to securing two large donations which will put them at their goal.
Also, the other night at the SLU-Maryville exhibition game, they showed an ad for the arena on the jumbotron that also mentioned spring 06 as the starting point. I can't imagine they would go to the trouble to produce a commercial for it (which was very good, by the way) that mentions a starting date without being fairly confident that it will get underway soon.
This arena will help the University in so many ways. Not only will it give the school more spirit in terms of students going to the game, but it will give SLU a state of the art arena, a great training room, a great practice facility, etc. Needless to say, this will dramatically improve the recruiting for SLU throughout the Midwest and the entire country. Go Bills.
They're very close, from what I've heard. Once the medical research building was funded, SLU turned all of its fundraising efforts to the arena, and it sounds like it's paying off.
THIS MAKES ME SO PISSED TODAY - I COULD SPIT BULLETS!
WHAT RESIDENTS? SOUNDS TO ME LIKE A FEW PEOPLE WHO HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS AND LIKE TO MAKE LIVING IN THE CITY A CONTROVERSIAL HELL AND HAVE SOMETHING TO GET BACK AT THE CITY/UNIVERSITY FOR.
