U. City Condemns Church, Urgent Care In Way Of Costco Development

UNIVERSITY CITY, MO — University City will use eminent domain to seize seven properties, including a church, a synagogue and a medical facility, in the way of its taxpayer-funded, financially troubled University Place development on Olive Boulevard, according to a post by the city's communications director Allison Bamberger on Nextdoor.

Max Tsai who owns AccuHealth Urgent Care and the shopping center where it is located confirmed he had received a notice of eminent domain from the city several months ago.

"After several months of negotiations Novus Development is at an impasse with three commercial property owners whose property is needed for the University Place development," Bamberger wrote. "As a part of the negotiation process, each property was appraised to determine its fair market value and an offer to purchase was made."

But, according to Tsai, that's not what happened.

"There were no real negotiations. We got one offer [from Novus] — their best and final offer — and a couple weeks later, we got the notice of eminent domain," he said.

Tsai said when he countered Novus' offer, the city stepped in to offer him slightly more. Both numbers were "way off," he said, based on his own appraisals. Then, he got word the city was done negotiating.

Now, he's in limbo: "We've heard nothing for several months."

According to City Manager Gregory Rose, Novus has not yet secured financing for the project, and the ostensible anchor tenant, Costco, has not yet determined if the site even meets its needs.

"While we have started our review ... there's no guarantee we can provide to you the building size until Costco concludes their due diligence and determines if the site meets their specifications," he said at the May 11 city council meeting held via Zoom.

The area of Olive Boulevard being bulldozed for the development has often been called St. Louis' unofficial Chinatown. AccuHealth serves mostly members of the local community and offers Chinese language services to those who don't speak English, Tsai said. Those services are currently suspended as he fights both the city and a pandemic. He doubts he has the financial resources to keep it up for long.

"At the end of the day, if you can't negotiate a fair deal, they just take it from you and work it out later," Tsai said. "It's a difficult position to be in, especially when you really have little ammunition to fight against the city."

Tsai also owns a synagogue next door. It too is being taken by the city. While it's not currently in use, another of the condemned properties, City Lights church, is. The church's pastor told Patch it is owned by St. Louis businessman Wallace McNeill, who couldn't immediately be reached for comment. McNeill also owns two other commercial properties condemned by the city. The last of the properties being taken is Public Storage, which is owned by a Delaware-based company.

Bamberger said the city, in partnership with Novus Development, would move to have a court decide the fair market value of the condemned properties.

"We are saddened the negotiation process failed — but believe all parties will benefit by having an unbiased third party decide the fair market value for the properties," she said.

Update: A previous version of this story said the city's Nextdoor post had been deleted. Allison Bamberger told Patch Friday morning that it was not deleted or reposted, though clicking on the original post forwarded to Patch still brings up a note reading: "Sorry, the post you're looking for has been removed."