Today, the LRA owns about 10,000 parcels, with other city land banks owning about 1,000 more.

It pays to mow grass and picks up trash and, if there's a building on the site, is responsible for keeping it safe. It collects no taxes on these properties, and many it has owned for decades. Selling more than one-tenth of that property will generate at least $100,000 in new taxes, even without any development, said Crim.

And selling it to a developer increases the odds that something will get built there, said Rainford.

"Whenever possible, we want land in the hands of the private sector," he said. "As long as the city's holding the ground, nothing's going to happen on it. Our bias is trying to get this land out the door."

The city's land-banking program has come under some fire in recent years.

Free market think tank the Show-Me Institute found that the LRA rejected nearly half of all offers to buy its property from 2003 through 2010, often citing possible "future development" as a reason why. Some of those rejections were in the NorthSide footprint, said Audrey Spalding, a Show-Me policy analyst who conducted the study. That McKee is buying them now comes as no surprise, she said, but it also provides no guarantees.

"I'm thrilled that 1,200 parcels are being bought. In terms of tax revenue, it's a positive. And if Paul McKee's dreams come to fruition, it's going to be great for the city," she said. "But I don't see it as a validation of holding land vacant in hopes of a big development."

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