Paul McKee (developer)
Paul McKee, Jr. is a St. Louis, Missouri-area property developer. McKee's property management and development company, M Property Services, formerly McEagle Properties, is based in O'Fallon, Missouri.
McKee grew up in the suburb of Overland, Missouri and attended Chaminade College Preparatory School. He has a civil engineering degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and is a registered professional engineer in Missouri, Indiana, Iowa and Illinois. He is married to Marguerite "Midge" McKee and the two have four children and 15 grandchildren. They live in the suburb of Chesterfield, Missouri.
McKee's entrepreneurship started with the co-founding of construction firm Paric Corp. in 1979. He is a founding member of the board and former chairman of BJC HealthCare, the area's largest employer. He has donated tens of thousands of dollars to politicians of both political parties. McKee says that he favors neither party particularly strongly, but "follow[s] the business agenda".[1] McKee was the primary organizer of a bipartisan trade mission to People's Republic of China to stimulate trade between that country and businesses in the region, with a particular focus on using the underutilized Lambert-St. Louis International Airport as a cargo stopover from China to South America.[2]
Since its inception in 1990, M Property Services has provided development assistance for over 3,600 acres and over 3.5 million square feet of commercial and residential space. Specializing in large-scale, mixed-use developments, M Property Services and its affiliates have owned or developed and sold office buildings, industrial facilities, retail centers and sites throughout the St. Louis metropolitan region and surrounding states.
In addition to his corporate work, McKee is involved in many community and charitable activities which reflect his interest in the community, as well as the health of St. Louis-area residents. McKee is involved in the following organizations: Lewis & Clark Leadership Forum, President Emeritus of Christian Health Services, National Society of Professional Engineers, Missouri Society of Professional Engineers, Former Young Presidents’ Organization and Barat Academy.
Major Developments
Some of McKee's major developments include WingHaven, a 1,200-acre (4.9 km2) mixed-use project that is the corporate home to MasterCard Operations Center in O'Fallon, MO; NorthPark, a joint venture with Clayco Realty Group including 5,000,000 square feet (460,000 m2) of planned commercial and industrial redevelopment in North St. Louis County that is the corporate home to Express Scripts;[3] and Hazelwood Commerce Center, a 151-acre (0.61 km2) industrial park in Hazelwood, Missouri.[4]
McKee's NorthSide Regeneration Project is intended to revitalize North St. Louis. However, according to St. Louis Public Radio, "Nearly a decade after Paul McKee sold St. Louis on a vision worth billions to rehab more than 150 properties on the city’s north side, roofs have caved, walls have crumbled and residents have lost patience — and hope."[5] In addition, the state of Missouri sued NorthSide Regeneration for tax credit fraud, alleging that NorthSide kept $4.5 million in tax credits for redevelopment projects despite not completing many of the purchases. The suit was settled in 2019.[6]
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) West Headquarters has committed to building a $1.7 billion campus on a 100-acre site within the development that would support 7,200 jobs with an average salary of approximately $95,000.
References
- Wagman, Jake (2009-05-24). "McKee's path paved with headiness, political savvy". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Archived from the original on May 28, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
- Mueller, Angela (February 22, 2008). "Paul McKee Jr. lobbies to land Chinese airlines". St. Louis Business Journal. Archived from the original on 2010-12-17. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
- Logan. "Express Scripts to add 1500 Jobs". STL Today.
- Brown, Lisa R.; Christopher Tritto (January 4, 2008). "Kiel: Blues, McKees take the stage". St. Louis Business Journal. Archived from the original on 2010-12-17. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
- "Once promised for rehab, vacant buildings owned by developer Paul McKee now scar city’s north side," Kae Petrin, St. Louis Public Radio. Published Nov. 30, 2018. http://apps.stlpublicradio.org/northside-properties-2018/index.html
- "Paul McKee's NorthSide Regeneration settles with state over tax credit fraud lawsuit." By Steph Kukuljan, St. Louis Business Journal, Jun 5, 2019. https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2019/06/05/paul-mckees-northside-regeneration-settles-with.html
External links
- McEagle Properties - McKee's property development company
- - Built St. Louis Blog, featuring 204 "Daily Dose of Blairmont" entries
- - blog featuring news updates on Blairmont, including the initial "outing" of Paul McKee as the developer behind Blairmont