ST. LOUIS — Developers of a hotel planned for the old Municipal Court building just west of City Hall are at odds with City Treasurer Tishaura Jones over the sale price of a parking lot tied to the deal.
The Board of Aldermen in 2017 approved selling the 209-space upper City Hall lot for $2 million, which would go into general city coffers.
In addition, the ordinance says, a yet-to-be determined amount must be paid to cover the loss of day-to-day revenue for Jones’ office, which runs city parking operations.
Vertical Realty Advisors LLC, one of the companies developing the hotel, proposed paying the treasurer’s office $533,000. That’s far less than the $4.7 million Jones and her staff say is needed to reimburse the office for the loss of revenue from the lot pledged to help cover the city’s overall parking debt.
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Hotel developers want to use the lot to build a hotel garage, which also would have retail and restaurant space.
The dispute, which until now has been the subject of behind-the-scenes talks, was aired publicly Friday before the city Parking Commission, which took no action.
In addition to that difference, Steve Symsack, a commercial real estate consultant representing Jones, estimated the overall value of the lot at $12.3 million.
, development manager for Vertical, and others on his team questioned some of the figures on which the revenue loss estimates were based.
They also asserted that the treasurer’s office would have ample revenue from its other parking facilities to avoid defaulting on any of its debt.
But Jared Boyd, Jones’ chief of staff, said the revenue loss would affect the office’s ability “to continue operating safely†regarding its current debt level and future debt issuances.
Boyd also said his office has concerns about the viability of the $60 million, 150-room hotel project.
Aldermen in 2017 approved about $8 million in tax-increment financing aid for the project — a joint venture between Vertical and Nelson Construction and Development of Des Moines, Iowa — and the sale of the old court building at 14th and Market streets for $2.4 million.
The developers have yet to start construction.
Jones added that the developers had consistently refused her office’s proposal to build and own a garage and lease it for hotel use. Adelani said “the offer was made in a way … we would be pushed out†of the garage development.
Adelani said in an interview later Friday that while the two sides are far apart, he still hoped to work out an agreement with the treasurer.
He also said developers had been planning to close on financing for the hotel last month but held off after Comptroller Darlene Green’s office requested a change in the project to a long-term lease.
Green’s spokesman, Tyson Pruitt, confirmed that is Green’s position. Pruitt said that while a hotel is a fine use for the property, it’s in the city’s best interest to own the building if the project falls through. The building has been vacant since 2002.