Deal for historic renovation in Belleville collapses. Developer blames ‘politics.’

A small group of Belleville residents led by a former congressman spent more than two years fighting a development project that they said would disrupt and change the character of their historic neighborhood.

Earlier this fall, it appeared that they had lost, based on a series of Zoning Board of Appeals recommendations and City Council approvals. Then on Monday night, they won.

The City Council effectively terminated an agreement with developer Kathy Mordini, who was poised to buy a derelict two-story brick storefront from the city, renovate it, move her real-estate office upstairs and turn the first floor into a special-event center.

Aldermen voted 10-6 to reject a revised sale contract that included a new company name and an extended closing date, despite a unanimous Zoning Board recommendation to issue the necessary permits.

“They railroaded it,” Mordini said. “They railroaded the project, so I’ll just have to turn it over to my attorney. I spent quite a bit of time and money on this, and then to have them approve it and approve it and approve it and approve it and then deny it when we were one step away from it being done?”

Mordini reiterated her longstanding claim that Mayor Patty Gregory’s administration has thrown up hurdles throughout the negotiation process for political reasons, including Mordini’s support of her opponent, the late former Mayor Mark Eckert, in the 2021 election.

Gregory and city officials have strongly denied that claim, saying the project has been subject to the same rules and procedures applied to any developer.

At Monday night’s meeting, Ward 6 Alderman Chris Rothweiler told other aldermen that he had tried to work out differences between the neighbors and Mordini, who wanted to host gatherings with food and liquor inside the building and outside in a fenced courtyard.

Rothweiler said he wasn’t opposed to the indoor operation, noting that he voted with the rest of the City Council to approve its liquor license at a earlier meeting, but he agreed with neighbors concerned about noise and crowds with an outdoor operation.

“We listen to the residents,” he said. “... They have to live there. They have to put up with it and deal with it.”

Rothweiler said he wouldn’t want to live near a venue that hosts outdoor parties, some with live music, that may last until 10:30 or 11 at night with people going in and out.

Vote breakdown

The 1887 storefront at 123-127 Mascoutah Ave. is in Ward 6. It’s just within the border of Old Belleville Historic District, a mostly residential neighborhood, while also part of the downtown business district.

Rothweiler and Ward 6 Alderwoman Mary Stiehl voted not to accept the revised contract with Mordini, as did Bryan Whitaker and Lillian Schneider of Ward 1, Scott Ferguson of Ward 3, Raffi Ovian of Ward 4, Ed Dintelman of Ward 5, Phil Elmore and Dennis Weygandt of Ward 7 and Kara Osthoff of Ward 8.

Voting to accept the revised contract were Carmen Duco and Jamie Eros of Ward 2, Kent Randle of Ward 3, Johnnie Anthony of Ward 4, Shelly Schaefer of Ward 5 and Nora Sullivan of Ward 8.

Several neighbors have appeared at past City Council and Zoning Board meetings to criticize the project itself. But at Monday night’s meeting, former U.S. Rep. Bill Enyart stood up during a public-participation period and questioned Mordini’s personal credibility.

“Public court records show that she has been sued for breach of contract at least four times in St. Clair County Circuit Court,” he said. “She has multiple city offenses for accumulation of trash, failure to make required repairs and health and safety violations.

“She also has had two domestic-violence protection orders and one non-stalking order entered against her to protect fellow business persons and neighbors from her actions.”

St. Clair County court records show that three people have petitioned for orders of protection against Mordini, most recently in 2014. Each was denied.

Four breach-of-contract lawsuits were filed against her in small claims court between July 2008 and June 2009. At least one was dismissed. Another was settled. Outcomes of the other two are unclear because digital court files are incomplete, and small claims paperwork prior to 2013 has been destroyed.

Belleville police issued Mordini four tickets within a two-month period in 2009, two for accumulation of trash, one for failure to make repairs and one for a health-and-safety hazard.

Mordini said the 14-year-old tickets related to her work on a storefront at 124-126 E. Main St. in Belleville, one of several historic-building renovations she completed successfully over the years.

“Considering what I did for the property, I think that’s pretty minor,” she said.

Mordini declined to comment on Enyart’s other statements, except to say that some were “flat-out lies” and some were family matters, and she was disappointed that he would try to destroy her reputation given her community involvement over the years.

Mordini has operated several businesses, including Broadway Center of Arts in the Main Street building, which she no longer owns; and volunteered with organizations such as Belleville Mural Project.

“Bill Enyart should be ashamed on the direction he took to stifle (the Mascoutah Avenue) project,” she said. “I want to do good things for the community, and I don’t have time for their political games of twisted lies.”

“They just keep throwing garbage at the wall until something sticks,” she added.

Evolving plan

The brick storefront at 123-127 Mascoutah Ave. has been vacant for 27 years. The family of Mark Kern, a former Belleville mayor and current St. Clair County Board chairman, donated money so the city could buy the building in 2010 and vacant lot in 2009 for back taxes. It was going to be used as a welcome center for the landmark Gustave Koerner House, but that never materialized.

Kathy Mordini operates Avenue Realty Associates at 122 Mascoutah Ave. across the street. She and her daughter, Kinsey Mordini, first expressed interest in renovating the vacant storefront in early 2021.

The city twice published requests for proposals the following year, and the Mordinis were the only developers to submit plans. They estimated it would cost $200,000 to install utilities, make other improvements and adhere to historic-district requirements for the exterior.

Initially, the Mordinis proposed creating a “small-business incubator” with outdoor kiosks for open-air markets and a commercial kitchen for cooking classes. The City Council rejected that plan after Enyart and other neighbors warned that the kiosks would attract homeless people.

Kathy Mordini changed the plan to consist of a special-event center on the lower level and her real-estate office upstairs. In June, she agreed to buy the property for $48,816 with a September closing date.

The deal likely would have gone through on an extended October date if not for the City Council voting last month to table a decision on whether to allow Mordini to serve food and drinks outside. That led her to seek another extension.

“I didn’t want to buy a property if I wasn’t going to be able to use it as I had proposed,” she said.

Mordini said she also discovered that she had signed the first sale contract using a new company name, Avenue Development, not realizing that the name already was taken in Illinois, so she had to go back to her existing company name, Avenue Realty Associates.

Enyart argued on Monday night that Mordini had breached the contract and lost her grandfathered-in right to open a special-event center in Belleville. The City Council approved an ordinance in July limiting the number of such venues due to their rapidly increasing numbers.

“Ms. Mordini’s proposal would be the sixth venue establishment within a half-mile radius,” Enyart said. “The ordinance prohibits more than one within a mile.”

Before the vote, aldermen briefly discussed whether Mordini had actually breached the contract when she failed to close on the sale in October. City Attorney Garrett Hoerner said a breach had occurred, but the sale could go forward if the City Council accepted the revised contract.

The 10-6 vote against the contract represented the project’s collapse.

Fence question

Another neighbor who has voiced opposition to Mordini’s project is Barb Swantner. She and a partner are renovating a historic brick storefront across the street that they bought this summer. They plan to reopen Charlie’s bar with loft apartments upstairs.

In a letter to aldermen, Swantner, who lives a half block away and initially supported Mordini’s plan, argued that she had repeatedly changed details and that a fence around the courtyard would violate historic-district rules.

The Zoning Board recommended that the City Council issue a special-use permit for outdoor dining, but only if it was surrounded by a six-foot-high fence.

“I asked what the size of the pergolas (in the courtyard) will be and she wasn’t willing to answer,” Swantner wrote, referring to a meeting that she and Mordini attended. “I believe we all want to see that corner developed but not with a developer that won’t even try to work with the neighbors.

“She has submitted many nice letters (from project supporters), but most of them do not live in the area we are discussing, so if they are getting information off of social media, of course it sounds like a great idea.”

Mordini rejects the claim that her plan kept changing and insists that many people in the neighborhood were supportive. She said Rothweiler didn’t talk to them, and some are angry enough to make sure that he’s defeated in the next municipal election.

Mordini questioned why her project was so heavily scrutinized by the city while the owners of Charlie’s, which will be a bar with late hours and a gambling parlor, were able get plan approval, a special-use permit for outdoor dining and a liquor license within weeks.

“Everything I requested they got, and they were praised for it, and we were chastised for the exact same thing,” she said.

Cliff Cross, director of economic development, planning and zoning, said he and other city officials will reevaluate what to do next with the city-owned Mascoutah Avenue property. He said he doesn’t like to see vacancies, but he wants to make sure future plans are solid.

Does Mordini see her chances for renovating the building as over for good?

“As of right now, it is,” she said. “But that building’s not going anywhere. Maybe in two years, when we have a different administration that’s not politically driven to kill projects ... We’ll hold it out. We’ll do it after we get a new administration.”