Mayor Lyda Krewson, who chairs the estimate board, said “they haven’t started it yet” and clearly can’t complete it by the current deadline of Dec. 31 of this year and that extending it through 2023 is “inappropriate.”

“If it was a few months or something, I might feel differently about that,” Krewson said. She said the issue should go back to the Board of Aldermen, which passed the TIF ordinance in 2017.

Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, who also said the project needs to be taken up again by aldermen, said there have been “numerous problems with the project.”

Reed didn’t elaborate. But St. Louis area construction unions have expressed concern that Alterra would use a Texas company to handle asbestos remediation work at the site.

In addition, a Laborers Union official last fall said Alterra was evasive on Alterra’s indications to the city that both union and non-union employees would be used. Alterra officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

In addition to the TIF financing, the developer would also receive $2.6 million generated from special sales taxes generated at the site.

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