Part of the Lambert Land Boeing Wants to Lease for Expansion Is Already Taken, Lawsuit Claims

Sep. 6—ST. LOUIS — Boeing Co.'s plan to use property at Lambert airport for its potential $1.8 billion expansion could be complicated by an ongoing lawsuit between the city-owned airport and a company that claims it still holds the lease to part of the land.

Ricardo Nicolopulos, president of Bi-National Gateway Terminal LLC, which wanted to develop an international cargo facility, notified Boeing in a letter about the still-pending lawsuit it filed in 2019 that contests St. Louis Lambert International Airport's "attempt to terminate our lease."

Nicolopulos in an interview Tuesday added that Bi-National is open to negotiating a settlement, saying that his company has invested more than $11 million in the project. But he said Bi-National will continue to fight the city in court if need be.

"If I have no other choice, yes," he said. "Because I'm defending our investment and our very heavy work" on the cargo effort for four or five years.

Attorneys for the city, in filings in St. Louis Circuit Court, had previously said the Bi-National lease was terminated in 2019 because the firm had failed to carry out certain requirements in the agreement.

Lambert officials declined to respond to Nicolopulos' latest statements, saying they couldn't comment because litigation was involved.

"That lease was terminated for cause in 2019," Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge said Wednesday at a meeting of the city Airport Commission. "It is not an active lease. We feel confident we are in the right in that case."

Boeing has yet to respond to a Post-Dispatch request for comment on Nicolopulos' letter, which was sent Aug. 15 to a Boeing real estate official.

The land at issue is on the north end of Lambert along Banshee Road and includes buildings from a long-vacant aircraft manufacturing complex.

Boeing has said its expanded facilities would involve "advanced manufacturing" but hasn't elaborated. But the plan, which would bring 500 jobs to the area, was announced as the aerospace industry is gearing up to bid to build the next generation of American fighter jets.

The company has asked for an estimated $155 million in property tax breaks over 10 years in exchange for the new jobs and investment. That proposal is pending before the St. Louis County Council. While St. Louis city owns and operates the airport, it's located in the county.

The proposed Boeing lease, which is expected to be considered later this month by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, also includes a larger area of airport-owned property on Lambert's eastern end in Berkeley. That was purchased over the years to reduce the effect of airport noise on residential areas. The overall Boeing lease would cover about 158 acres; the company also would have the option to lease an additional 28 acres.

The Bi-National project was initially approved by the city in mid-2015 and was expected to be operating as soon as 2016.

But the project stalled until a new financing plan was worked out in 2019, including federal and state historic tax credits that weren't in the original package. CRG, the real estate arm of the Clayco construction firm, was added to the project team at the time. However, a few months later the city terminated the deal.

Nicolopulos and Bi-National sued the city, arguing that their lease remained in effect, and alleged that they had been advised by city employees and officials that the project wouldn't go smoothly unless Bi-National included "a certain construction firm" favored by the city and some of its officials.

The suit didn't name the firm but Nicolopulos said in a 2019 interview that he was referring to CRG.

In response, Bob Clark, who heads Clayco and CRG, said in an email at the time that "we have no knowledge" of city officials pushing for CRG to be added and that Nicolopulos and an associate had approached CRG.

Erin Heffernan of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed to this report.

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