This is an article from the June 2025 Civitas Examiner (Volume 2, No. 3) 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.
St. Louis developer Paul McKee, CEO and property magnate, founded the Green Leaf Market and Homer G. Phillips Memorial Hospital which were then followed by a string of failed businesses including the NorthSide Regeneration project. He owns more than 1,600 properties in St. Louis, which he started purchasing 11 years ago. He has let the properties fall into disrepair, and he has faced several lawsuits from neighborhoods over code violations.
TIF, otherwise known as tax increment financing money, is a form of government subsidy given to individuals who provide economic stimulus to specific regions that have been zoned as in need by the municipalities. The money needed for the TIF is paid for in the future by the area’s taxes and the blighted region. The results of this money have not been seen in St. Louis, leaving the residents to pay off the debt. This has a particularly significant impact on schools that rely on property taxes to fund themselves, which is especially pronounced in Missouri, where schools often receive as little as 30% of their budget from the federal government. In 2013, the state of Missouri allocated $390 million in TIF funds to the NorthSide Regeneration project.
Paul McKee attempted to set up a grocery store, a vital need for resources in the community. The GreenLeaf market provided little more services than a gas station, utilizing city funds to establish a business that lasted less than four years. This same pattern repeated itself at the Homer G. Phillips Memorial Hospital, where he again spent city funds on a desperately needed project, only for it to last less than a year. These are only the projects he ever managed to develop; the vast majority of his projects remain uncompleted.
Paul McKee has received millions in city and state funds, which have allowed him to let the properties remain in disrepair, regardless of the cost to the counties in which he works. In the future, how can we change the system to prevent this pattern of abuse? It needs to be significantly harder for anyone not from St. Louis to acquire properties. This would include Paul McKee’s properties. If you have a pattern of repeatedly failing to follow through on your projects and wasting city funds, you should not have the chance to do so again. Paul McKee has purchased properties from the Land Reutilization Authority for absurdly low prices under the pretense of development and left them to deteriorate, while refusing to sell the vast majority.
To quote Gabe Lepak, staff member of the Park Central Development Corporation, “the easiest way to make money is to have money.” Paul McKee, through land banking, a form of storing capital in property, passed millions of tax dollars from the city in the form of TIF money and grants. Until the 2025 St. Louis election, the fines for individual neglected properties were set at $500, essentially meaningless for someone as wealthy as Paul McKee. However, the cap on penalties was lifted when it passed by an 80% vote, and the property owner was exempt if they were a resident. Land is not a renewable resource. This will provide the city with the tools necessary to combat land banking and mitigate its effects through neglect. The Examiner tried to meet with Paul McKee or any other representative of the Northside Regeneration Project. We have yet to find a mutually convenient date and time.
