Belleville inspector reviewed his own company’s work. Business owner says it cost him.
Adam Hill’s plan to revitalize a “deteriorated” shopping center on Belleville’s west side and build the first new homes on West Main Street in decades got the attention of Mayor Mark Eckert and the City Council.
And to back up their support, aldermen approved $510,000 in TIF grants and other tax breaks for Hill’s two projects.
But now Hill is in a dispute with the city over his development of Cured and Cultured, a restaurant, deli and liquor store he opened this year in the former Shenanigan’s space. Hill says the city’s plumbing inspector had a conflict of interest since it was his family’s business that installed the water lines that were not approved, an allegation repeated in his attorney’s letters to the city.
Hill’s attorney, Tyler C. Schaeffer of St. Louis, sent the city a letter requesting about $55,000 to settle the water line inspection dispute and City Attorney Garrett Hoerner promptly denied the request in a letter to Schaeffer.
The dispute arose after Mike Ehret, a plumbing inspector for the city, reviewed work that had been performed by his family’s company, Ehret Inc. of Belleville. He determined that, per city code, Cured and Cultured site did not have enough water supply, according to Hill and letters Schaeffer sent to the city. The initial water line was installed in 2016 and the inspection was in 2019, Hill said.
Eckert said the matter has been turned over to Hoerner, who couldn’t be reached for comment. The mayor has previously said that the city has changed its policy so that a plumbing inspector cannot review work conducted by a company in which the inspector has a financial interest.
Ehret could not be reached for comment for this article but earlier this year declined to comment on the issue.
Hill is upset the city has not reached a settlement with him and he criticized Eckert’s handling of the complaint.
“How in the hell can a city stand by and let their inspector do his own company’s work? How is he allowed to work in that city?” Hill said. “That is a monumental problem.”
Eckert counters that the city has “worked very sincerely” with Hill.
“For an extended period of time, we worked very cooperatively and we worked very sincerely Adam,” Eckert said. “And we’re at a point now with the letters he sent that, you know, that’s a situation that once you threaten and or get an attorney involved or send letters, then at that point I have nothing else to say. It’s strictly their attorney talking to our attorney and that’s where it’s at.”
Hoerner, in a letter to Schaeffer, said a state inspector made the final call on the Cured and Cultured site.
“And for occupancy-permit purposes, the State plumbing inspector reviewed the plumbing work on the Project, which is obviously not a conflict of interest as you allege,” Hoerner wrote.
In commenting on Eckert’s actions in the dispute, Hill said, “Here’s what I’ll say about the mayor: He cares deeply about this city and I admire that. I don’t admire — and quite frankly I resent — the treatment that we’ve gotten.
“They didn’t have anybody else stepping up to the plate do this project. We figured out a way to get it done and, quite frankly it’s a damn good, successful project.”
Plumbing work dispute
Hill said he paid Ehret Inc. $63,000 to have water lines installed at the shopping center at 64th and West Main streets. Along with Cured and Cultured, the shopping center has a Family Dollar, Subway and the 4202 Main Street Brewing Co. brewery and banquet center, which has since bought its portion of the shopping center from Hill.
After the original water line work was denied approval, Hill said he had to pay about $25,000 to add a water line by another plumbing company so Cured and Cultured could get an occupancy permit from the city. Hill said if an additional $300 had been spent on pipes when the original work was done, he would not have had to pay the extra $25,000.
Along with the additional cost of adding another water line, Hill said he lost rent revenue of about $30,000 because of the delay.
The cost of the additional work and the lost rent totals about $55,000, which is the amount Hill’s attorney requested from the city.
TIF grants
The city approved two redevelopment agreements with Hill to clear the way for the $510,000 in TIF grants, which were drawn from the city’s tax increment financing funds. This funding is created when property values are frozen in a designated district and any additional revenue generated by a rise in property values is channeled into a special fund earmarked for infrastructure improvements and economic incentives.
In the first contract, the city agreed in 2016 to give Hill a $275,000 TIF grant to renovate the Marketplace Shopping Center, which Hills described as “deteriorated” at the time.
Since then, the owners of 4204 Main Street Brewing Co. said they spent $3 million to convert the old Mad Pricer grocery store into a brewery and banquet center.
Hill said he spent about $600,000 renovating the former Shenanigan’s space in order to open Cured and Cultured.
In the second redevelopment agreement, the City Council in 2017 awarded Hill a $235,000 TIF grant as part of his proposal to tear down the Forest Hills apartment complex at 8512 W. Main St. and the Rob Nora Apartments at 7009 W. Main St. and construct new homes on the sites.
The apartment buildings have been demolished but no homes have been built.
Wrangling over redevelopment agreements
Schaeffer, the attorney for Hill, has sent the city two letters outlining Hill’s argument that that city has not complied with terms of the redevelopment agreement for the Marketplace Shopping Center. Hoerner, the city’s attorney, sent a reply stating that Hill has not complied with terms of either of the redevelopment agreements.
Schaeffer alleges the city breached the Marketplace agreement by approving construction plans that the city later said failed to meet the city’s plumbing code. He also argues that the city breached the agreement’s conflict-of-interest clause when Ehret inspected work completed by his company.
“Mr. Ehret’s prohibited conflict of interest put him in a position where he both had a financial interest in Ehret Inc., as well as the duty to ensure and approve that his company’s work on the Project satisfied the Plumbing Code,” Schaeffer wrote.
Hoerner chastised Schaeffer for sending his first letter to Eckert and the City Council members instead of to him.
“I must say that the audacity of your letter is exceeded only by your apparent ignorance of the circumstances underlying the project,” Hoerner stated. “Nevertheless, your settlement demand is hereby rejected.”
Hoerner on June 23 denied that the city breached the agreement and alleges that Hill’s company, Sonomacap Re Fund II LLC, breached the Marketplace agreement by not turning in a “certificate of substantial completion” by Jan. 18, 2017. Hoerner indicates that the remedy for this violation would be Sonomacap’s repayment of the $275,000 TIF grant.
Shortly after Hoerner sent his letter, on July 7, Hill filled out the certificate of substantial completion.
Hoerner also alleges that another one of Hill’s companies has not completed a certificate of substantial completion for the West Main Street residential project. This document was due on June 21, 2018, according to Hoerner.
In his June 23 letter, Hoerner stated that he would discuss with the City Council whether the case should be taken to court.
“In the meantime, please advise whether your client reconsiders its position and, if not, whether you will accept service on its behalf,” Hoerner wrote to Schaeffer.
Hill said the city has not filed a lawsuit against him as of this past week.
Also, Hill said he has not filed a lawsuit against the city but Schaeffer indicated in one of his letters that he was asking for the city to talk to him “before this dispute heads to court.”
Schaeffer said he couldn’t comment on legal strategy, but added that both he and Hill were “disappointed” with the city’s response.
‘Chilling effect’ on future developments
Since the Forest Hills and Rob Nora apartment buildings were torn down, the two sites remain vacant.
In late 2018, Hill said the West Main Street residential project was delayed when he had to help his family cope with the deaths of his father, mother and his mother-in-law between January and August that year.
In an interview for this article, Hill said the experience he had with the city’s inspection process at Cured and Cultured has raised a concern about how future projects could be completed.
“That’s a chilling effect,” Hill said. “There is no way on God’s green earth that I would go and borrow the money required and get halfway into a project and have the inspection review that I experienced. I mean it would be bad enough to have all that money at risk but, more importantly, this is somebody’s home for crying out loud. What if they needed to get in there? What if they had their house sold?
“The city has a very strong history of inconsistent inspections, whether it’s commercial or residential,” Hill said. “This isn’t a new issue.”
Hill said he would like to resolve the issue at Marketplace with the city and get the West Main Street residential project done so his company can begin to see a profit and the city can start collecting new tax revenue.
“We’d like to see it happen because we make no money until we do something with it and you’d like to see something so you begin to make more money,” Hill said.
“This is going to cost me more than I’d like,” Hill said of the dispute with the city. “But if somebody doesn’t push back and fight, this problem is never going to get fixed. It has no chance in hell to get fixed. This is as clear as day to me and it is to anybody else.”
