Committee approves sale of fenced plaza next to Saint Patrick Center for redevelopment, sponsor to provide legal opinion on park status

St. Louis City aldermen voted to advance board bill 82, allowing a negotiated sale of the fenced plaza adjacent to the former Post-Dispatch building and the Saint Patrick Center to an ownership group that plans to convert the site into a regulated surface parking lot.

Alderman Joe Aldridge, sponsor of the bill, told the committee the site — referred to in testimony as Interco/Innoco Plaza and currently fenced off — has long been underutilized and that the comptroller’s office supports the sale. “This has been an ongoing conversation for several years to be able to purchase this area that has not been utilized to actually, revitalize it and to bring some actual use to it,” Alderman Aldridge said.

The ownership group for the former Post-Dispatch building, represented by John Berglund, said the group purchased that building in 2018 and has invested about $75,000,000 in it. Berglund said the group bought a 70-by-30-foot section of the plaza in 2020 and wants to purchase the remaining parcels so it can improve the property and provide parking for tenants. “The most common issue we get when we try to get tenants is where do I park?” Berglund said. “People in St. Louis like to park right next to where they're gonna work.”

Why it matters: the parcel sits next to services that serve people experiencing homelessness and near the Saint Patrick Center; aldermen pressed for clarity on whether the land is subject to a voter-petition requirement for parkland sales and asked for environmental and design mitigations if it becomes a surface lot.

In legal testimony, Dave Sweeney of the law firm Lewis Rice said the area has been “held out” as Interco Plaza but never was formally dedicated as a park by ordinance. “It never legally became one,” Sweeney said during committee testimony, and he offered to share his research with the committee. Several committee members asked the city to provide a formal legal opinion clarifying the charter and ordinance history so members could be confident the sale would not trigger a voter approval requirement.

The developer and sponsor said the planned lot would comply with applicable zoning rules, include lighting and fencing, and could incorporate stormwater controls and additional trees. Berglund said mature trees along Tucker Avenue would remain and that the group would comply with stormwater regulations and the city’s parking ordinances.

Committee members voiced mixed sentiments about replacing permeable surfaces with pavement. Alderman Leiser and others expressed disappointment at the loss of potential green space and urged mitigation, including permeable paving options and additional plantings; Alderman Browning noted that the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) has incentives and programs that favor permeable designs. Alderman Browning said she was “leaning toward supporting this” given the site’s current condition and the need to address safety and vacancy.

The bill was amended during the meeting to attach the negotiated purchase agreement as an exhibit; the amendment was offered to ensure the exact agreement negotiated with the comptroller’s office and the developer was incorporated into the legislation. Committee members accepted the amendment by unanimous voice vote, and the committee subsequently voted to send the bill forward with a do-pass recommendation.

Formal action: the motion to pass board bill 82 as amended was moved by Vice Chair Sonnier and seconded by Alderman Keys. The roll call recorded six aye votes, and the chair announced the measure passed out of committee.

Next steps: committee members requested the comptroller’s office and city legal counsel provide a written legal opinion on whether the parcel’s history requires voter approval before sale and asked the sponsor and developer to provide more detail on stormwater mitigation, permeable pavement alternatives and new tree plantings before perfection of the ordinance.

Ending note: proponents said the sale aims to convert an underused, fenced area into an asset for downtown employers and tenants; opponents and some committee members asked for explicit mitigations to minimize stormwater and urban heat impacts and confirmation that the city has clear authority to proceed without a public vote.