This is an article from the February 2025 Civitas Examiner (Volume 2, No. 1) and was written by one of our students, Hank F. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue. To read more Civitas Examiner stories or to submit your own, click here.
Now shuttered, the Homer G. Phillips Memorial Hospital on Jefferson Ave. near downtown Saint Louis is embroiled in more conflict. Not to be confused with the historic hospital or elder care facilities with the same name. This 21st-century hospital had only been open since January 2024, opening among its fair share of controversies. The Homer G. Phillips name was used without permission from the family and community and continued to be used despite opposition from community leaders. The hospital was closed in December 2024 after the employees claimed they were not being paid. Paul McKee alleges the hospital closed because of a shortage of blood supply.
Homer G. Phillips was a prominent African-American Saint Louis Lawyer who first started practicing law in 1911. Phillips spent his life advocating for a desperately needed black hospital in Saint Louis. Eventually, he went on to found the Homer G. Phillips Hospital. The Homer G. Phillips Hospital at the time was one of the best hospitals in the nation. Through his work with the mayor of Saint Louis, Phillips managed to bring desperately needed resources to the Black community. The Homer G Phillips Hospital provided much needed healthcare and education to underserved communities, only for this hospital to be shut down in 1979, long before its white counterpart, City Hospital #1 on Lafayette Ave. in South St. Louis. The Homer G. Phillips Hospital was a pillar of The Ville community while in operation.
Six years ago, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley filed a lawsuit against businessman and property magnate Paul McKee. Mckee was charged with misuse of over $43 million in public funds between 2009 and 2013 and falsifying records in the pursuit of tax credits. Attorney General Josh Hawley demanded $4.5 million in damages. It feels somewhat disingenuous for the name of Homer G. Phillips to be co-opted by a man with a history of exploiting primarily Black and Brown neighborhoods for profit. Paul McKee has a history of tax fraud and blighting properties, but with all this in mind, he still holds numerous properties across the North Side.
Over the course of this hospital’s creation and existence, over $43 million of taxpayer’s dollars were taken in TIF money, only for the hospital to last less than a year. TIF “money, or Tax Increment Funding, is a form of government subsidy granted to individuals who provide economic stimulus to certain regions that have been zoned as in need by the municipalities. TIF stands for tax increment financing, the money needed for the TIF is paid for in the future by the area’s taxes and the blighted region.
Paul McKee was sued by the city of Saint Louis for mismanaging the 3509 Page Boulevard Mckee property, a property he bought back in 2009 that has been left to rot. This property is a blight upon the community, just as many of McKee’s properties in the neighborhood surrounding the National Geographic Intelligence Agency. 3509 Page Boulevard is one of the properties purchased in Paul McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration Project, an ongoing project that has taken place over the course of nearly two decades, butin this time has only managed to open up the Greenleaf Market and the Homer G. Phillips Hospital, both of which are now closed.
As we have seen, Paul McKee has a history of fraud and neglect. He has a pattern of targeting struggling communities that are without the resources to combat him. In the future, preventing men like Paul McKee from abusing their power, could decrease the time necessary for adverse possession of land and enforce property codes the city has in place yet remain unenforced.
