Carpenters Union Sues Jefferson Arms Developer
Date Posted: September 19, 2022
Posted In: News,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council is suing the company behind the long-delayed redevelopment of downtown’s Jefferson Arms, alleging the developer owes the union $700,000.
The union claims Dallas-based Alterra Worldwide defaulted on $700,000 in loans the carpenters’ St. Louis council lent to the company. The money went to pay for 2018, 2019 and 2020 real estate taxes and “pre-development costs” related to Jefferson Arms, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
Those loans, plus interest, were due in December of 2021 and July of this year. The union alleges Alterra and its CEO, Mukemmel “Mike” Sarimsakci, have yet to repay the loans.
Sarimsakci did not respond to a request for comment.
The loans were issued before the Chicago-based Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council dissolved the St. Louis office and sued the former leader, Al Bond, over allegations of financial misdeeds related to billboard advertising. Bond called the decision to have the Chicago council oversee St. Louis “nothing more than a political coup d’etat.”