Century Building at center of debate
By: Melissa Smith
Issue date: 11/5/03 Section: News
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An amended lawsuit filed in October has raised serious concerns about the legitimacy of the Old Post Office (OPO) project. A main part of the OPO project involves the destruction of the Century Building, which Webster required in order to create parking near the OPO.
One of the main concerns raised by the lawsuit is what will happen to the project, and to the Century Building in particular, if Webster University is unable to commit.
The amended complaint states: "After a series of representations by the Developer, (The National Trust for Historic Preservation) reluctantly agreed with the Developer's plan to destroy the Century Building for a parking garage. The National Trust imposed three conditions on its assent to the proposed demolition. One of the conditions was a major commitment from the two proposed anchor tenants, one of which is Webster University. At this time, whether Webster University will commit to the project is in serious jeopardy."
Two weeks ago, Webster President Richard Meyers said that Webster was not even halfway to meeting its financial goals for the OPO project and that Webster would not be signing a lease until those financial goals were met. Meyers said he doubted that these issues would be resolved by the December meeting of the Board of Trustees.
In a letter to William Boos, director of the General Services Administration, the governmental agency in charge of reviewing the project, Royce Yeater, Midwest director of the National Trust stated: "Demolition of the Century Building should not be allowed to occur until major commitments from the State Courts and Webster University are fully secured for the Post Office."
Yeater said the developers have told him that demolition wouldn't begin until Webster has signed a lease and that he is not in a position to comment on a hypothetical situation such as the Century Building being demolished without a lease commitment from Webster.
"(Demolition) will not happen, I believe, without a secure lease commitment from Webster or another comparable tenant," he said.
Gwen Knight of The DECSO Group, one of the developers of the project, said that construction would be going forward. Although construction was originally scheduled to begin in November, she said it has been pushed back to December. She attributed this delay to loose ends on the construction side, and not to any legal difficulties due to the lawsuit
