Carpenters’ Union Sues Developer Paul McKee
Date Posted: November 28, 2023
Posted In: News,
From St. Louis Business Journal: The carpenters’ union that covers St. Louis has brought a breach of contract complaint against developer Paul McKee over a loan involving an O’Fallon, Missouri, office building.
The Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council said in a lawsuit filed this month in St. Louis County Circuit Court that in 2020, its predecessor union in St. Louis, the St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council, loaned McKee entities $1.5 million.
The loan was secured by an office building at 2342 Technology Drive, the suit claimed. But in December 2020, the entity that owned the building, Summit Place Building One LLC, gave it back to Simmons Bank in a foreclosure or forfeiture, the suit said.
That wasn’t allowed without the union’s permission, it claimed. It said the note matured in January this year, and that McKee and other related defendants failed to make payment. The defendants include entities tied to NorthSide Regeneration’s grocery, GreenLeaf Market, at 1400 N. 13th St. McKee is the primary developer behind NorthSide, which is focused on North City.
The union claimed $1.8 million is now owed.
An attorney for the union, Sherrie Hall, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
An attorney for McKee, Joseph Dulle of Stone, Leyton & Gershman, said in a statement that NorthSide and the carpenters “have had a long and productive relationship that has created unprecedented man hours for union members” since the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency opted to put its western headquarters on land partly owned by NorthSide, in St. Louis Place.