St. Louis Post-Dispatch Building Blocks column [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Oct. 31--A developer came closer Wednesday to getting a tax subsidy for a $46.4 million plan to renovate a distinctive downtown St. Louis building as Laclede Group's headquarters.

Members of the city's Tax Increment Financing Commission voted 4-0, with one abstention, to approve $8.1 million in tax-increment financing to help the Koman Group rejuvenate the vacant building at 700 Market Street.

The decision came after 13 people asked commissioners to reject the TIF request or postpone the matter until after voters decide a proposed city charter amendment to bar tax incentives to companies that engage in "unsustainable" energy production or annually do $1 million in business with such firms. The city Election Board could decide in November when to submit the measure to voters.

Koman officials told commissioners they hope to close on the building's purchase in January, begin the renovation in May and have it ready for occupancy in March 2015. Josh Udelhofen, Koman's chief investment officer, said the plan includes renovation of the building's plaza with trees, lights, a raised seating area and a "water feature."

Koman's TIF request must still be approved by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. Tax-increment financing allows developers to pay for new commercial projects using some of the tax revenue generated by the developments.

Under Koman's plan, Laclede would occupy the entire six-story building designed by architect Philip Johnson in the 1970s for the General American Life Insurance Co.

Koman plans to buy the building, vacant since 2004, from Centaur Properties, of New York, then lease it to Laclede.

Laclede has yet to confirm its intention to leave its longtime home at the Laclede Gas Building, at 720 Olive Street, where about 450 employees occupy nine floors of the 31-story office tower.

Ellen Theroff, Laclede's vice president for governance and standards, told TIF commissioners a move to Market Street would allow the company to put more workers in one spot. She said failure of Koman's plan would prompt Laclede to "step back" from its headquarters relocation plan.

TIF opponents told the commission that Laclede, as a regulated utility, should not benefit from a public tax subsidy. Several said Laclede's move from one downtown building to another would merely shuffle jobs without growing employment.

Arielle Klagsbrun, a member of Take Back St. Louis, a group against tax subsidies to corporations, said opponents of the Koman TIF will fight the subsidy when it comes before aldermen.

After the meeting, Udelhofen said in a statement that while Koman recognizes concerns about tax-increment financing "the reality is that without alternative financing tools like TIF and historic tax credits" buildings such as 700 Market will "continue to sit idle."

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