Perhaps it should come as no surprise, but the Paul McKee grocery store at the intersection of Cass and Tucker has closed (remember when the bridge was just the beginning?) Sitting right at the approaches to the Stan Musial Veterans Bridge, I thought there would at least be some traffic, but I heard that during the pandemic, the store’s offerings severely declined, and empty shelves predominated. The gas station is now the only completed project McKee has done that is actually open and operating.
I doubted the long term viability of the GreenLeaf Market from the beginning for two reasons.
FIRST: Before construction could start the Board of Aldermen had to approve TIF assistance and create a Community Improvement District that could impose an additional 1% sales tax. That wasn’t enough, and the St. Louis Development Corp. allocated $5 million in new markets tax credits AND the USDA guaranteed most of the construction loan. Eventually NorthSide Regeneration went back to the Development Corp. for ANOTHER $2.5 million in new market tax credits.
With all these tax credits and a loan guarantee needed before construction could begin, I figured GreenLeaf wouldn’t be able to stand on its own.
SECOND: Back in 1987 just a few blocks east of the GreenLeaf site and closer to Cass Ave. a National supermarket was built, becoming a Schnucks when the latter bought out National in St. Louis. I shopped there weekly for sometime, until Schnucks closed it in 2000. If Schnucks, which certainly knew the St. Louis grocery market inside and out, couldn’t make a go of it, I figured a newcomer to the St. Louis area would have virtually no chance.
Agreed, particularly with the additional population loss over the last two decades in the area.