Developer Paul McKee of St. Louis is losing control of another project.
A federal judge has ordered that a receiver be put in charge of McKee’s Three Springs at Shiloh development in St. Clair County, Illinois.
The 193-acre development was supposed to include a mix of retail, office and residential buildings in Shiloh. The site has mostly sat empty.
This spring PNC Bank filed a federal lawsuit claiming McKee and several of his holding companies had defaulted on an $8.3 million loan from 2006. The bank asked the court to put a receiver in place.
Judge Donald Wilkerson’s order names Brentwood-based Pace Properties, Inc., the receiver. All parties in the suit consented.
"It generates more interest this way and generally helps with marketing," McKee’s attorney Howard Smotkin told St. Louis Public Radio. "People think there’s a potential to get a better deal."
The Village of Shiloh passed a Tax Increment Financing district and a Special Business district in 2011 in connection to the proposed development. Rights to those development agreements would be sold along with the land. McKee's holding companies also mortgaged some of the land to the village as collateral for the TIF bonds.
Village of Shiloh administrator John Marquart said he was happy a receiver had been named “and is in the process of moving this project forward.”
Earlier this week, 46 parcels of McKee’s Northside Regeneration project were sold at a public auction. Another developer also bought McKee’s Hazelwood Logistics Center in St. Louis County at a public auction last month.
