FERGUSON 鈥 In 2019, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of Michael Brown鈥檚 death and the civil unrest that followed, a nonprofit led by a former top Mercy Health executive and the leaders of two construction firms that worked closely with the hospital system unveiled grand plans for West Florissant Avenue.
Flanked by elected officials and Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the leaders of the new nonprofit, Health and Homes St. 亚洲无码, promised new housing, a grocery store, sidewalks and streetlights.
One of the first pieces would be a new, 11,000-square-foot 鈥淢ercy health care hub鈥 on West Florissant Avenue, next to the Boys and Girls Club teen center under construction at the time. They even had a catchy brand name for the stretch of busy, uninviting road where the protests and violence of 2014 drew the world鈥檚 attention to St. 亚洲无码鈥 racial inequities.
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鈥淎 little more than a year ago, we announced the Health & Homes STL plans for the WestFlo District,鈥 Donn Sorensen, then a top Mercy executive and chairman of the board and CEO of Health and Homes, said in a December 2020 Mercy announcement about the new clinic鈥檚 groundbreaking. 鈥淭oday marks the chapter where Mercy responds to the call to promote health and wellness for Ferguson residents.鈥
The Mercy office 鈥 at 5,500 square feet, half the size Health and Homes first pitched 鈥 opened in July 2021 on land Health and Homes purchased in 2017 at 9180 West Florissant Avenue. The construction was undertaken by Pitt Development Group and Musick Construction, whose leaders, Doug Pitt and Don Musick, respectively, served on the board of the nonprofit.
After Mercy鈥檚 office opened, a few more doctors began working in the community. Health and Homes made some small grants to community organizations. Its board members even invested in commercial buildings across the street from the Mercy clinic.
Then nothing.
鈥淗ealth and Homes went silent all of a sudden,鈥 said LaTasha Brown, who was listed as a contact on Health and Homes鈥 website and received grants from the nonprofit for her own organization, the Southeast Ferguson Community Association. 鈥淭he Health and Homes I know don鈥檛 exist anymore.鈥
A dispute between Mercy and Pitt Development Group, and the ensuing resignation of key leaders, seems to be behind Health and Homes鈥 lack of activity in recent years. The fight, now in court, has raised questions about whether Health and Homes will be able to meet the nonprofit鈥檚 commitments to Ferguson and north St. 亚洲无码 County, including $1.5 million pledged to help revamp West Florissant Avenue and the broader promises of redevelopment and health services.
In December 2021, Sorensen left the tax-exempt, Catholic hospital system that had paid him $4.5 million in its fiscal year ending June 2021. He stepped down from Health and Homes鈥 board sometime before mid-2022.
A few months later, in March 2022, Pitt Development General Manager Brian Hayes, a board member and chief operating officer of Health and Homes, resigned from the nonprofit. In Hayes鈥 resignation letter, which Brown provided to the Post-Dispatch, Hayes said he was asked to resign from the board 鈥 a request that Hayes said came from the nonprofit鈥檚 legal counsel at the time, , a Lewis Rice attorney who has .
鈥淚n my duties as a Mercy contractor, I reported a situation to management that I felt was wrong,鈥 Hayes wrote. 鈥淢any truths and rumors have swirled from me doing so and the great work of Health & Homes is at risk of collateral damage. Which would only hurt the people I have worked so hard to help. While I firmly stand by what I felt was right, I also want to make sure the path for Health & Homes is clear going forward. I do not regret my decision to come forward.鈥
The $8 million Health and Homes said it had raised back in 2019 never materialized. It doesn鈥檛 currently have the $2 million it told the U.S. Department of Transportation and St. 亚洲无码 County it would provide for a $30 million project to add medians and landscaping to West Florissant Avenue. It was just setting up an office on West Florissant Avenue last week.
Health and Homes鈥 nonprofit filings as of June 30 show it took in only $20,000 last year and its assets mostly consist of the land where the Mercy clinic sits. Most of its donations in recent years went to paying off the mortgage on that real estate. It hadn鈥檛 even received a tax exemption certificate as a nonprofit and owed three years of taxes on the land 鈥 nearly $30,000 鈥 which it paid May 17, days after the Post-Dispatch asked the county assessor and the nonprofit鈥檚 attorney about the taxes.
But the organization is working to resurrect itself as the 10th anniversary of the Ferguson unrest approaches. It points to a new leader, Raullo Eanes, and a $750,000 matching grant promised from the Boniface Foundation, which has close ties to Mercy Health and whose chair is Win Reed.
Asked whether Health and Homes was a casualty of the fallout between Pitt Development and Mercy Health, Musick, one of the remaining founders of the nonprofit, was resolute: 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to let that happen.鈥
鈥楢 disturbing connection鈥
Before the hospital system cut ties with it two years ago, Pitt Development worked closely with Sorensen and built more than a dozen Mercy clinics over the last decade.
But in a lawsuit filed earlier this year, Pitt Development says that Mercy retaliated against it for reporting 鈥減otential bribery, extortion and sexual assault of women鈥 involving Sorensen to Mercy executives in late 2021.
According to the lawsuit, Sorensen in late 2021 asked Pitt Development to pay $65,000 to architect Steve Warlick even though Warlick wasn鈥檛 working with Pitt Development. Pitt Development says Sorensen鈥檚 request to pay Warlick led it to discover 鈥渁 disturbing connection between Sorensen and Warlick that related to business dealings, personal dealings and the sexual exploitation of women.鈥
Pitt Development claims that after it reported its findings to Mercy executives, Mercy opened an investigation into Sorensen, who left in December 2021. John Farnen, the head of development at Mercy, also left.
At least one woman reached a settlement with Mercy, according to a separate lawsuit Warlick filed against the woman for defamation. The Post-Dispatch is not identifying her because of the allegations of sexual exploitation. She has declined to comment.
Sorensen has not responded to requests for comment. Farnen has said he didn鈥檛 know about Pitt Development鈥檚 allegations. Mercy has said it doesn鈥檛 comment on pending litigation. Warlick has denied any wrongdoing and previously said in a statement he had found his own 鈥渄isturbing connection between Pitt Development Group and Sorensen.鈥
鈥楴ow we鈥檙e there鈥
After the disruptions of COVID-19 and the departures of Sorensen and Hayes, Musick and Eanes say they鈥檙e trying to stand Health and Homes back up as the 10-year anniversary of the 2014 civil unrest in Ferguson approaches. They want to provide the health services and redevelopment promised five years ago. The West Florissant Avenue project will be the first step. All the funding, including an $18 million federal grant awarded in late 2021, is finally lined up, and they鈥檙e actively raising money to cover the nonprofit鈥檚 share.
鈥淕etting the grant took forever, getting the 501漏(3) status for (Health and Homes) took forever,鈥 Musick said. 鈥淓verything has taken way longer than we thought it ever could or would. But now we鈥檙e there.鈥
Eanes, who is listed as part of Musick鈥檚 Eager Road Associates LLC in his role as , said he started working to revive Health and Homes last summer. He declined to say whether he was employed directly by the nonprofit, which has never listed any employees in its IRS filings. But Eanes said Health and Homes 鈥渋s a full-time job鈥 and that it has held several health education workshops at the Boys and Girls Club on West Florissant Avenue since he came on.
The group and lists Eanes and Brown, the Southeast Ferguson Community Association founder, as contacts, and an office address of 9191 West Florissant Avenue, a commercial building across the street from the Mercy clinic. Brown, who works as a property manager for that building, said she was unaware she was listed as a contact.
鈥淚 have never worked for Health and Homes,鈥 Brown said Tuesday.
And, she said, she said she rarely sees Eanes.
鈥淚n the last two months, I鈥檝e seen Raullo all of three times,鈥 Brown said.
Eanes said the group would take Brown鈥檚 name off the website. But he maintained he is working diligently on Health and Homes and that he is often out in the community meeting with leaders and residents.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to work with the community you have to be in the community,鈥 Eanes said Tuesday from an office in the building, where Musick Construction trucks had delivered furniture just a couple hours prior.
Brown said she works closely with Hayes as a property manager for the strip mall and office building at 9191 West Florissant Avenue. The building is owned by an entity called Donnian LLC, which lists Hayes, Musick and Sorensen as members.
In an emailed response to questions, Hayes said Health and Homes was a philanthropic venture 鈥渨ith no money to be made by any of the developers or contractors.鈥 And Donnian LLC, which purchased two commercial buildings at 9191 and 9231 West Florissant Avenue for $875,000 in June 2021, bought the land as part of Health and Homes 鈥減hilanthropic efforts,鈥 Hayes said.
The group had commissioned some early planning work for redevelopment along the road. The intent, Hayes wrote, was to establish 鈥渃ontrol over how it would be developed and to make sure the future development would fit into the long-term plan for the community.鈥
鈥淭hat is still the intention but the property is not profitable and the community is still struggling,鈥 Hayes said in the statement. 鈥淲ith the departure of Donn Sorensen from Mercy the relationships between Donnian LLC members, Health & Homes, STL and Mercy has disappeared. Thus, progress slowed down in (Southeast) Ferguson.鈥
Donnian LLC paid $110,000 Thursday to catch up on two years of property taxes owed on the building that Health and Homes shares with several small businesses who rent commercial and office space. The payment came days after
on taxes.
鈥楬alfway there鈥
Health and Homes, meanwhile, plans to donate the real estate it owns to Mercy Health, which owns the building but not the land where the Ferguson clinic sits. A spokeswoman for the health system said Mercy, which still has an employee on Health and Homes鈥 board, was 鈥渉appy to accept the land donation from Health and Homes and eager to continue our work serving the Ferguson community.鈥
And, Musick said, Health and Homes is 鈥済ood for the $1.5 million鈥 promised to St. 亚洲无码 County for the West Florissant Avenue project, slated to begin early next year. The financial commitment is not in any contract but included in a letter Hayes wrote to the Department of Transportation in July 2021, pledging $500,000 to maintain the road improvements and $1.5 million for the project itself.
After the roadwork, Health and Homes鈥 redevelopment work will follow, Musick said.
鈥淲e will actively be looking for not only a grocery store but for other development opportunities which we hope to generate based on the redo of the West Florissant corridor,鈥 Musick said.
Eanes and Musick said they鈥檙e halfway to reaching the commitment to the county. They pointed to the $750,000 commitment from the Boniface Foundation, a $268 million foundation that had been tied to St. Anthony鈥檚 Medical Center before Mercy acquired the hospital and renamed it Mercy Hospital South. Boniface, which pays former St. Anthony鈥檚 CEO Kelly Wetzler $400,000 to lead the organization, gives the majority of its annual donations to projects and services at Mercy Hospital South.
Boniface鈥檚 chair, Reed, confirmed that the foundation agreed to a $750,000 鈥渕atch donation鈥 to Health and Homes. Reed, who was legal counsel for Health and Homes, also served on Mercy Hospital South鈥檚 board. Reed declined to say whether he still provided legal services to Health and Homes and he declined to comment on whether he had asked Hayes to resign from the nonprofit two years ago.
Eanes said more announcements are close and Health and Homes is back, gearing up 鈥渇or the next step鈥: providing health programming in a community that needs it.
鈥淲e are by no means a nonexistent organization,鈥 Eanes said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really climbing right now and I don鈥檛 want to lose that momentum.鈥
Originally published Sunday, June 2.