ST. LOUIS — Homer G. Phillips Memorial Hospital. The NGA. Two parcels, one major developer believes, will revitalize one of the most underrepresented areas in St. Louis.
“I didn’t think it would be as difficult as it is. But I have to tell you, no, we won’t quit; that’s not in our psyche. Ever.,” developer Paul McKee said.
For more than two decades, McKee has had a plan. A plan for redevelopment in North City, which has drawn criticism and taken too long for some,.
“Years and decades of having land and only three projects to be open,” Rasheen Aldridge said at a Housing, Urban Zoning and Committee meeting last week.
McKee says there’s a sequence to development.
Assemble land, which creates jobs, which creates demand.
He spoke exclusively with Fox 2 News about one of the most controversial developments he’s been involved with.
“There are 76 employees, of whom 85% are people of color. Of that, 85% of the 75% of people of color have a former relationship in their family with the old Homer G. Phillips hospital. They saw a chance for them to give their service to their community,” McKee said.
Nurse manager Crystall Gines said the hospital is more than just a ‘clinic’.
“This is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week hospital with 15-bed emergency rooms and three inpatient beds so we can service the community. We have the expertise of any hospital around us,” Gines said.
Across the street from the hospital is the nearly 2-billion-dollar NGA campus.
A deal McKee helped negotiate when the agency was ready to move to Illinois.
“It started off with over 200 sites and we got it down to us versus Illinois, and we won it,” McKee said.
“We helped put together the whole incentive package from the state government and the city government.”
More than 3,000 jobs are coming to one of the most underrepresented and underdeveloped areas in St. Louis history.
A task his lawyer, Darryl Piggie, said the city never thought was possible at the introduction of Board Bill 174.
“I think for a year and a half I went to meetings with Mr. McKee before the city ever came. If you go back and look, you’ll see that the city’s original point of view on the NGA was that it wasn’t possible. When we wanted to build a hospital at the Pruitt-Igoe sight, SLDC said, Well, it won’t work; that can’t happen.” Piggie said this at the meeting.
McKee is still one of the largest landowners in the city.
Vacant lots and abandoned buildings are also on his resume and residents’ memories.
Why the delayed development?
What are his plans to address the years and decades of decaying and dilapidated buildings he owns?
“We’ve already demolished over 100 different buildings; we have about 140 to go. We do about 8 to 10 of them a month in a regular sequence, and our goal is to get the land as clear as quick as we can,” McKee said.
Friday morning will be the final day of the bill.
The land McKee has assembled could be in jeopardy because of its eminent domain.
His lawyers have submitted an amendment.
McKee said if the bill passes, it could change the landscape for him and other developers wanting to come to St. Louis.
“Whether it’s me, Bob Clark or any other developer, the city has to partner with you and the state. That’s how you win jobs. Jobs are the commodity of today for growth and economic development. You can’t do it without the city and state supporting you,” McKee said.
