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ST. LOUIS — A small grocery store just north of downtown didn’t have many groceries for months.

The shelves were largely empty. The refrigerated cases contained food — frozen burritos, roasted turkey breast, lobster egg rolls — but it was mostly expired. The parking lot was generally empty.

Still, the GreenLeaf Market, on North Tucker Boulevard, was mostly open and staffed, usually with one person behind the register. And that person was often connected to St. Louis politics and north St. Louis developer Paul McKee.

“How can I help you?� McKee lawyer Darryl Piggee asked a customer one day this past summer. “Just to warn you, we are operating with limited inventory right now.�

McKee and his supporters pitched the market to city leaders in 2017, as an oasis in the middle of a food desert. Residents clamored for healthy options, officials said. The community needs a grocery store, residents said. Over the next few years, McKee’s team convinced officials — bank executives, federal bureaucrats, city leaders — to send the project millions of dollars in tax incentives and publicly backed support for the store.

It opened in 2019 with official proclamations, stocked shelves — and about $20 million in tax dollars and publicly backed loans.

As its fortunes later dimmed, it stayed open. The fine print in some of its funding contracts warned developers against “abandoning� the project. Residents said it no longer served the neighborhood. Finally, in December, it closed.

McKee insisted the store, despite its problems, stayed open for the good of the neighborhood.

“Had we closed the store completely — with no appearance of ongoing operations — it would have immediately become a target for vandals and others with bad intentions,� McKee said in a November email to the Post-Dispatch. “Our law-abiding neighbors would have become victims had we shuttered the store while working out the logistics of getting it up and running.�

It doesn’t appear the agencies that funded the store can do anything about the recent closure.

The tax increment financing agreement with the city of St. Louis, which authorized $2.8 million for the grocery store and neighboring gas station, does not include penalties for an early closure. The Bank of Springfield, which gave the store a $10 million loan backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said it couldn’t disclose details.

The ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ office of the USDA said the bank would be paid back for most of the loan even if GreenLeaf closes and defaults.

The state Small Business Development Center said there’s no requirement in the pandemic Paycheck Protection Program, which paid the store $232,000, requiring it to stay open.

And it did not appear that the federal New Markets Tax Credit program, which sent the developer $7.5 million in financing for the project, could claw back the cash.

Former grocery store employee Evie Williamson-Moore, a north St. Louis resident, said she was disappointed the store hasn’t been successful.

“It’s the only grocery store you can go to,� said Williamson-Moore. “But it was never open long enough to make a difference.�

Now McKee’s team says it hopes to reopen in March.

But the store stands as another example of how McKee’s ambitious plans for St. Louis have stalled.

‘It was exciting’

Two decades ago, McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration group started buying up hundreds of acres of land north of downtown, with promises of a north St. Louis revitalization.

The city originally stood behind the idea. But as McKee’s properties began to deteriorate and resident complaints grew, officials rescinded their support, questioning if McKee had the finances to fund the projects.

Last week, aldermen advanced a plan to use eminent domain against north St. Louis properties, including McKee’s.

NorthSide Regeneration has had some public successes.

NorthSide helped assemble the site for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s new western headquarters, at Jefferson and Cass avenues about a mile west of the grocery store; built a gas station across the street from the store; and recently opened a small hospital near the NGA site.

The grocery store was the first private project to materialize within the 1,500-acre NorthSide Regeneration footprint. Tax dollars to support it began lining up about six years ago.

In 2017, the St. Louis Development Corporation board approved a total of $7.5 million in federal tax credits for both the store and gas station projects. The city also authorized up to $2.8 million in tax increment financing assistance. And the McKee-affiliated St. Louis Grocery Group, which owns the store, received a $10 million Rural Development loan from the Bank of Springfield, guaranteed by taxpayers via the USDA.

Then-U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr. attended GreenLeaf’s ribbon-cutting in April 2019, saying the store would be life-changing for residents.

“Given the fact that many residents in this neighborhood depend on public transportation, having a good store within a few blocks from home is the difference between a livable neighborhood and a failed neighborhood,� the congressman said then.

Nearby residents took to the idea of a grocer with fresh food in their neighborhood.

“It was exciting,� local resident Linda Chatman recalled.

One neighbor recalled buying birthday cakes for her kids from the bakery and seeing seasonal meal deals promoted consistently.

A year later, COVID-19 hit. Like many businesses, GreenLeaf closed in 2020. That same year, St. Louis Grocery Group received almost $232,000 in financial relief through the Paycheck Protection Program via the Small Business Administration.

According to Small Business Administration records, the Grocery Group applicants said the money would go to payroll for 75 employees. The loan was forgiven, as were most such loans.

The store reopened in March 2021, but would-be customers said it never fully launched. Hours dwindled and the parking lot was often empty. Food wasn’t restocked and the store stopped selling fresh meat or produce.

Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, whose ward includes the store, said it’s a shame GreenLeaf never bounced back.

“The community needs it,� he said in a July email. “I haven’t heard any complaints from residents besides that they are ready for it to open.�

Empty shelves, sparse staffing

By the summer of 2023, the store had become a hodge-podge of empty shelves, odd operating hours and sparse staffing.

John Cross, a political adviser to Clay, was often tending the shelves. He said he was part of the Grocery Group and had been with the store since 2019.

Piggee, the McKee lawyer and a former senior staffer for Clay, was often behind the register or holding what he called neighborhood meetings over the summer.

Piggee at one point said the store anticipated more inventory and the return of hot, ready-made food in August. But August passed and hot food didn’t arrive. Piggee then said the store would relaunch in September. By October, while the market had started selling hot lunches to-go, it had also blocked off the rest of the store.

On some November days the store was just closed. Even the store’s team was on different pages.

McKee insisted the store was open for business. Cross said it wasn’t. Piggee said it was getting new management.

In a deed of trust with the city, documents state that the Grocery Group “shall not abandon the premises.� Bank of Springfield loan documents say that if the project was to be abandoned for 45 days or more, the developers would default on the loan.

McKee said they kept the store open for the neighborhood.

“I would assume there’s language expecting us to operate the store,� McKee said in the November email. “But that has nothing to do with our decision to maintain the appearance of activity as we work to get up and running again.�

Last summer, McKee tapped James Lawrence to take over operations.

Lawrence said recently GreenLeaf Market’s latest projected opening date is March 15.

He said he is in talks with food distributors and plans to stock the store with a variety of meat and fresh produce. In addition to refilling shelves and the return of a food court, Lawrence said he is in the process of hiring about 20 workers with disabilities.

“I’m looking for incentives to hire handicapped people, disenfranchised people, to create opportunities for people in the neighborhood, jobs, provide training,� Lawrence said.

Lawrence said he’d be able to get benefits and tax credits through Social Security’s Ticket to Work program and the federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit. He is also seeking a grant from the city for operating in a food desert.

And he hopes to sublease part of the store to a pharmacy. He even has plans to open a second GreenLeaf location, at Grand Boulevard and Cass Avenue, later this year.

He said he would name Cross, the Clay political adviser, assistant manager.

“I want him to beat the bushes,� Lawrence said. “I want to be able to walk up to [politicians] face to face, ask them to support the store, ask them to help influence and show the type of people that come here. [Cross] already has those connections.�

Local residents are skeptical that GreenLeaf will succeed once it relaunches.

Heather Moore, of Columbus Square, said GreenLeaf Market is a lost cause. To succeed, she said, it needs a new name, better products and tons of advertising.

“That would be great if they could open with a big bang,� Moore said. “We need something down here.�

Jacob Barker of the ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ contributed to this report.