Settlement

Some members of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen say they’re planning a bill that would counter board legislation introduced Friday for spending the Rams settlement money.

The board bill seeks to infuse $232.5 million into development in north St. Louis, southeast St. Louis and downtown.

It's part of a national agreement that requires grocery chain to pay $1.4B nationwide.

Drug companies already have sent $100 million to Missouri to settle lawsuits for their role in the opioid crisis. But the state could receive hundreds of millions more over the next two decades.

The Railway Exchange building has been vacant since 2014 and has become a high-profile downtown eyesore riddled with trespassing and other crime.

The Hofbräuhaus restaurant in Belleville shut down in January 2023 after a copyright lawsuit filed in March 2022. The restaurant and national franchisor reached a potential settlement agreement last month.

A citywide survey that closed Feb. 6 garnered 12,442 online and paper responses during its 30-day voting window. The city’s Board of Aldermen said that compares to 3,195 completed surveys when it launched its kick-off survey last August.

Ownership over the Fox Theater has been settled after a years long dispute between Fox Associates, which owned the theater, and landowner Foxland Inc. Under terms of the agreement, Fox Associates will buy the land and continue to own and operate the theater.

County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler said Monday the agreement had not yet been finalized or signed. He declined to comment further until then.

Officials don’t have to spend the more than $500 million quickly because the money has fewer strings attached to it compared to other recent influxes of cash.