St. Louis officials say they plan to use eminent domain on properties near the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the majority of which are owned by Paul McKee’s Northside Regeneration, in an effort to spur new development in the area.
City officials said Thursday the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority will file a condemnation petition with the courts to acquire 89 blighted parcels in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood.
The move comes after years of promises of redevelopment and investment in the neighborhoods surrounding the new $1.75 billion NGA campus, which officially opened in September.
McKee’s Northside Regeneration was one such project that promised to restore the area. The urban redevelopment plan was intended to redevelop the area by building new housing, offices, retail and green space. However, the project failed to meet its goals and ground to a halt.
In an interview last year on STLPR’s Politically Speaking podcast, Ward 14 Alderman Rasheen Aldridge said he was excited at the prospect of using eminent domain on McKee’s properties in the coming year.
“There is not one person in my ward that I talked to in St Louis Place or JVL that will give him another opportunity to stay in the ward,” Aldridge said. “He just does not have a track record of touching anything that can be successful.”
Through eminent domain, the government would condemn those private properties and force them onto the market for new owners.
The Board of Aldermen voted to allow the city to use eminent domain on developments around the new NGA campus in 2024 in an effort to encourage redevelopment efforts in the Jeff-Vander-Lou, St. Louis Place and Carr Square neighborhoods.
The decision sets up a possible legal showdown with McKee in court.
To date, the authority has issued letters to owners for an additional 170 vacant and problem properties in Jeff-Vander-Lou and St. Louis Place. Those letters notify the owners of the problem properties of the city’s intention to acquire their property and are the first step in the eminent domain process.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
