St. Louis — The Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee voted to recommend approval of Board Bill 82, an agreement by which St. Louis City would sell the fenced Eneco Plaza adjacent to the former Post-Dispatch building to the building's ownership group, a developer representative said. The motion passed 6-0.

Committee members and project representatives said the aim is to give a long-unused square next to the Saint Patrick Center a productive use, with the developer planning parking for tenants of the Post-Dispatch building and compliance with applicable zoning and stormwater rules.

John Bergland, who identified himself as representing the ownership group for the former Post-Dispatch building, told the committee his group bought the building in 2018 and “have about $75,000,000 in that building.” He said the group previously purchased a 70-by-30-foot portion of the plaza and has for several years sought to acquire the remainder to improve the property and reduce encampment activity that at one time led to a fatality.

Dave Sweeney, an attorney with Lewis Rice who said he worked with the comptroller’s office on an appraisal and the sale documents, told the committee the property had been “held out” as Interco Plaza but “it never legally became [a park],” and that the formal ordinance-making step required to create a park had not occurred.

Committee members asked about green space, tree retention and stormwater. Bergland said the developer’s plan is primarily for parking but that “we would keep” mature trees along Tucker, comply with stormwater requirements and could plant additional trees to “soften things up a bit.” Members pressed for permeable surface options; one member asked the city to pursue a legal opinion about whether the city charter requires a public vote for a sale when land is “principally used or held out for use as a public park.” The sponsor said the comptroller’s office and project team would provide that legal opinion before perfection.

Saint Louis Public Schools and the Saint Patrick Center were identified as having been briefed about the project, and the comptroller’s office provided an appraisal to set fair market value, Sweeney said.

The committee accepted an amendment to attach the purchase agreement exhibit to the bill, then voted to recommend passage. Roll-call votes recorded as “aye” were: Alderman Schweitzer; Alderman Cone; Vice Chair Saulnier; Alderman Browning; Alderman Aldridge; and Chair Charmaine Clark Hubbard.

The bill now moves to the full Board of Aldermen; committee members asked for the legal opinion about any charter-required public vote before the measure is perfected in committee.