By Kathleen McLaughlin

I went to Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Hyde Park on October 25 for Metropolitan Congregations United’s fall public meeting, in hopes that Paul McKee Jr. would appear.

I don’t believe in Santa Claus, or the Great Pumpkin. But I hoped a prominent — if reclusive — local developer who says he wants to do great things for the city would follow through on an invite from civic-minded church folks.

McKee is a St. Charles County-based developer who has acquired hundreds of parcels on the near north side of St. Louis. It’s taken a few years, and while the properties sit vacant, McKee’s neighbors grow nervous. They fear the worst. What’s he going to do? Knock down a bunch of buildings in historic neighborhoods? Get the city to invoke eminent domain and force everyone around him out?

McKee has yet to answer that question in public. He has spoken with Metropolitan Congregations United and Mayor Francis Slay. The message relayed from both parties is that McKee doesn’t have detailed plans.

An appearance at a public meeting would represent a major departure from the ongoing status quo: silence on his part, accompanied by rampant speculation on the part of most everyone else.

McKee was a no-show. Read more…

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