Everyone, it is Tuesday, December 16th at 907 a.m.

And we are beginning our transportation and commerce committee meeting.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Alderman Oldenbury.

Alderman O'Ryan.

Here.

Alder Woman Sweitzer.

Present.

Alderwoman Coxantui.

Chair Cone.

Present.

Alderman Oldenberg.

Alderwoman Cox Antoine.

Three present.

Yeah, Gore.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

And the first item that is on our agenda is the approval of the meeting minutes.

We have meeting minutes from Tuesday, November 25th.

I'll entertain a motion on the approval of our meeting minutes.

So moved.

Second.

It's been moved by the Alderwoman from the first that we approve our meeting minutes from Tuesday, November 25th.

It's been seconded by the Alderman from the fourth ward.

Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Alderman Oldenburg.

Alderman Orion.

Alderwoman Sweitzer.

Hi.

Alder Woman Cox Antoine.

Chair Cone.

Aye.

Alderman Oldenberg.

Alder Woman Cox and Twee.

Three I votes.

With that, vote you sustain the motion to approve the meeting minutes from November.

Excuse me.

25th.

We have three items on the agenda today.

I just lost my spot.

I believe we have board bills 116, 117, and 118 on today's agenda.

Am I reading this correctly?

116, 117, 118.

I'm in the folder, but the agenda for the folder seems to be outdated.

Okay, let me change.

Okay.

Let me look.

Give me one moment.

It looks like the minutes and the agenda are the agenda says it's for Tuesday, November 25th.

And it has the yeah, we've gone in and out of this drive a couple times now and refresh my computer.

I think the agenda needs to be updated.

I did just verify that the notice on the calendar and on the website does have board bills 116, 117, and 118.

So the meeting was properly noticed, but the agenda in the drive is incorrect.

Is anyone else saying the same thing?

I'm seeing now.

I'm seeing it.

I'm going to update it.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah, the agenda is from the November 25th meeting.

It has on that.

But you're right, Chairman Cohn.

The agenda posted online is correct.

Yep.

Okay.

So we're going to go ahead and uh with the meeting since everything was properly noticed, and it's just a clerical error here that the agenda hasn't been updated in the drive.

So we'll go ahead and take up board bill 116.

And I believe Rob and Antonio are here from the airport.

Yes, sir.

You would like me to begin.

If you wouldn't mind, Rob.

Right.

My name is Robert Solerano.

I'm the airport properties division manager.

Uh we're requesting uh the Alderman and Alderwomen approved this morning.

The first amendment to the news and gift specialty retail concession agreement with HG St.

Louis joint venture.

HG St.

Louis Joint Venture is a joint venture among the Hudson Group of New York.

Newburn's management and ACDBE partner and local partners, OHM concession group and final phase marketing, which are both those firms are local companies.

The premises to the airport is the all the retail stores.

You see the news and gift stores and specialty retail stores in the airport.

And this amendment request is connected very much to the proposed new terminal development.

Should the airport move forward with the proposed terminal redevelopment project, uh we will eliminate more than half of the concessionaires' premises over the next couple of years.

The revenue to the airport is a minimum annual guarantee of four million dollars and various percentage fees on items of merchandise.

Should we move forward?

The minimum annual guarantee will be reduced to three million dollars annually upon the closure of the concessionaire's C and D concourse premises.

The term of the agreement began February 1st, 2013.

And by this second amendment shall go to uh 2031 and January 31st.

So this is a five-year and it also eliminates certain certain premises and requires them to spend approximately 3.5 million dollars in the construction of new premises.

Uh a Volta is going to be pardon me.

HG St.

Louis is going to build an evolve marketplace in Terminal 2.

And uh that'll be patterned after the area of the St.

Louis known as the Grove.

And it'll be uh they'll have one St.

Louis section and then news, gift traveler essentials.

And they'll also refurbish the current kids works location, uh, which is also in Terminal Two, and that'll be refinished as a Lafayette Square marketplace.

Uh it'll have a design characteristics uh to reflect the Lafayette Square neighborhood.

It will uh sell mainly traveler essentials.

Uh, we respectfully request your approval of this first amendment to the news gift and specialty retail concession agreement with HG St.

Louis joint venture.

Pardon me does wish that we were having this meeting in person and uh had the vendors available because they did have some really uh very cool uh illustrations available at the airport commission with some of the materials and designs that they're going to be using in these uh evolved storefronts.

So uh unfortunately we're virtual today and don't have the uh same capability that uh have those available, but um they did present uh uh very thorough presentation at the airport commission.

Uh questions from the committee.

Alderwoman Schweitzer, or I'm sorry, Alderman Norayan.

No questions.

Thank you.

Alderwoman Schweitzer.

Thank you, Chairman Cohn.

Uh, you hit the nail on the head.

I would have really liked to see the picture, so I'll have to see if I can find them or maybe perhaps somebody can email them to me.

I was trying to picture what that would look like, uh, modeling after these neighborhoods.

Um, so I'm I'm interested to see that.

Um, I do see the 3.5 million dollar commitment in the bill, but I don't I'm not trying to figure out where the three million is.

I see that they're in the um exhibit, it talks about 3.5 million investment, but I'm trying to figure out where it says 3 million for um what they have to may if uh in our amendment uh alder woman, it's section six okay um of the amendment, and if we close their C and D concourse premises, they're already gonna lose their A concourse premises when we also close their C concourse premises, and then it'll end up being temporary locations that they have on D for just about two years.

Umce we close those premises, their minimum annual guarantee will go to three million dollars.

Got it.

Just to address what you uh mentioned earlier regarding the renderings.

Just to address what you uh mentioned earlier regarding the renderings, I can definitely get those emailed through the through the chair.

Um some renderings of the Evolve Marketplace in the Lafayette Square Market.

It sounds really interesting, and I think that's something that other airports are you know, around the country, you kind of see more the reflection of the of the community.

And I think some of the places in the airport we do see those, you know, St.

Louis highlights are really well received.

So I think more of that is great, and I really appreciate the creativity there.

So thank you for bringing this to us today and for your time on this.

Great.

Alderwoman Coxy and Twee.

Yes, I'll uh echo my colleagues and say thank you so much for bringing this.

I do think this will be a great um add.

And I know we've seen a lot of peer cities do this in their airports as well.

And I would also be remiss if I wouldn't say that I was excited about the lap yet square market uh for the eighth ward highlight.

So I do appreciate that.

No further questions.

Wonderful.

Any further comments or questions?

Madam Clerk, is there anyone from the public that signed up to testify on this bill?

No.

Yeah.

Wonderful.

With that, I'll entertain a motion on board bill 116.

I move that we pass board bill 116 with a due pass recommendation.

Second.

It's been moved by the alderman from the first ward, seconded by the alderman from the fourth ward that we pass board bill 116 out with a due pass recommendation.

Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Alderman Oder.

Alderman Nrion.

Alderwoman Schweitzer.

Aye.

Alderwoman Coxanne Tween.

Chair Cone.

Aye.

Alderman Openburg.

We have four I votes.

With that vote, you sustain the motion of the Alderwoman from the first uh pass Board Bill 116 out with the due pass recommendation.

Next up on the agenda is Board Bill 117.

Rob, is that are you presenting on that one as well?

Or is that Antonio?

Rob will present.

Sorry, I didn't realize I was muted.

Uh yes, I'll be presenting on this bill as well, Chairman.

Uh, this is a second amendment to the electronics retail concession with HG St.

Louis joint venture two.

Uh, this is a separate legal entity, but it's the same legal partners as the the uh news and gift concession.

Um, and it's Hudson Group in New York, and then locally you have OHM concession group and final phase marketing.

Um, and I should mention the the outset that both these were one separately in competitive bids, the news and gift and the electronics retail.

Um, this is for retail uh for four electronics retail locations in the airport complex.

And again, there this request for an amendment and extension is very much tied to the proposed new terminal development.

Uh when this goes into effect, this they have four retail locations, they'll immediately lose their largest terminal two location.

We're gonna convert that over to a food and beverage location.

We haven't nailed down the concept yet, but much more food and beverage is required in terminal two, so they'll immediately lose their largest uh largest unit, and they will lose their unit on concourse A and on Concourse C if we approve if we approve the new terminal development.

Um this minimum annual guarantee is at 375,000.

Should the airport move forward with a proposed terminal redevelopment, the mag shall be invited and baited in its entirety upon closure of the A concourse premises, meaning the mag will go down to zero once we take away that last that that concourse A store because all they'll have left at that point is a small store on Concourse C and a kiosk in Terminal Two.

They will still have all their uh percentage fees payable, so we will still collect the revenue revenue on the agreement.

Um we respectfully request the your approval of the second amendment to the electronics retail concession uh agreement with HG St.

Louis joint venture too.

Thank you, Rob.

Uh are there any questions from the committee on board bill 117?

Alderman Narayan.

No questions.

Thank you.

Alderwoman Schweitzer.

Thank you so much.

And you said that um at a point where their stores close, uh, they would essentially lose that uh or we would lose that um investment of the mag.

Um, do you I know it says February 1st, 2026 is when this goes into effect.

I get a I'm wondering if you have more of a timeline on that.

No, my our expectation is, and again, this is very much connected to the new terminal, and if that goes forward, the current timeline would have that in about 2027, would be the A concourse closure.

Okay.

And then the C concourse would close in about 2029, according to current schedules.

Okay.

Well, it's really exciting to hear those numbers get closer and closer.

At first, they seem so far away, but now it's like, oh gosh, that's basically next year.

It yes, it's exciting and scary.

Yeah, a lot going on.

Let's unpack.

All right.

Thank you very much for the information.

Thank you.

Alderwoman Coxy and Twee.

Thank you.

And no questions from me as well.

All right.

Uh Madam Clerk, are there any comments or questions from members of the public on board bill 117?

We have not.

All right.

With that, I'll entertain a motion on board bill 117.

I move that we uh pass board bill 117 with the due pass recommendation.

Second previous role.

It's been moved by the eighth.

I'm sorry, it's been moved by the alderman from the eighth ward, seconded by the alderman from the first ward that we pass board bill 117 out with a due pass recommendation.

There's been a request for previous role.

Is there any objection to previous role?

Seeing and hearing none.

Uh Board Billes out with a due pass recommendation.

Thank you all.

Uh, and then lastly on the agenda, we have Board Bill 118.

Antonio, is that the bill that you're here to present on?

I believe so.

It's the airport debt service stabilization fund.

That sounds right up your alleyway.

All right.

Yes, that's that's me.

Take it away, Mr.

Strong.

Okay, Antonio Strong, Deputy Director of Finance Administration for the airport.

Uh, first, I want to say the dark the director apologized for our absence.

She had a meeting with the airlines that conflicted with this meeting this morning.

So uh this transfer is an annual request per our bond indenture and our airport use and lease agreement with the airlines.

We are required to perform this annual 13.7 million dollar transfer transfer from the airport debt service stabilization fund to the airport revenue fund.

Uh the debt service stabilization fund was established by the airport's bond indenture in fiscal year 2006.

This fund was likely established to provide comfort to the investment community when we sell bonds.

That we have enough to cover any debt payment deficiencies or operational emergencies.

That annual $13.7 million transfer uh commenced in fiscal year 2012 to help us maintain a healthy debt service coverage of 1.25 or better.

And it also mitigate the airline rates and charges on an annual basis.

Uh also this fund can be used for emergency debt service needs and airport operational emergencies, like I just mentioned.

Um, and also that transfer was started around fiscal year 2012, which was kind of around the time the TWA American dehubbing and runway debt per debt payments were at its peak.

Um also note that this fund is unique to St.

Louis, but other airports have similar debt service reserve funds on their books.

Uh prior to requesting your approval, uh, we did receive approval from the airport commission.

We also shared this uh this uh request with the uh Control Adrier, and she approved that transfer in November.

The current balance in the debt service stabilization fund is 22.4 million.

And at this time, we respectfully request your approval to transfer the funds.

All right, thank you, Mr.

Strong.

Are there any questions from members of the committee?

Alderman Norayan.

No questions, thank you.

Alderwoman Schweitzer.

Thank you.

Uh I'm I'm hoping that this has just been a pretty healthy year for our airport and financially and any information you can give on that.

Appreciate it.

Yeah, uh, this has been a healthy year.

Uh revenues continue to increase.

Uh, we still see employment uh growth um a little bit better than last year, and um is definitely equal to 2019, which was a banner year for most airports.

Um, so yeah, we continue to see that growth.

We do have new concessions that opened up here at the airport, mainly in terminal two, but we did have some on Concourse C.

So uh yeah, we continue to see um great growth um during the year.

That's great.

I'm really excited about the the flights to England as well that are coming up.

Um I am trying to get my husband to agree that to have to fly on a vacation.

I've never been, so it feels like a time to go.

Um, and I'm looking forward to see how that continues to make our airport even more of a destination.

So thank you for all you do.

Yeah, thank you.

Alder Woman Cox Antwitt.

Um, and I understand that she mentioned this is just an annual process that the city does.

Um, but with this being my first time as a committee, I just want to do to clarify uh why is it unique to St.

Louis?

So it's unique to St.

Louis because it's in order to meet our debt service co coverage.

Uh the debt service coverage is basically a financial metric that measures uh company's ability to cover its debt obligation.

Uh it was something that uh, you know, prior to my time that uh that the um the airport management along with our financial consultants, uh determined this was the best method for ours for us to meet that desk service coverage.

Uh if we did not do this transfer, we would have to charge the airlines for the additional amount that is needed to meet that coverage.

And what that means is we would have to charge them higher rates, and it'd be a little bit more difficult to market our airport to new airlines and market our airport to new routes.

So as uh Alder Woman Schweitzer mentioned, we uh do have British Airways coming on board here at the airport.

That will be more difficult to market to new airlines or airport if we had to raise our rates to meet coverage.

So this is one of the annual transfers that we do to make sure that we meet our debt service coverage rates.

Okay.

Thank you so much for explaining that to me.

And definitely want to make sure we're uh not missing Alder Woman's flights or flight over to London.

So with that, no further questions.

Um that's an excellent point, though, Alder Woman.

Um, I have been having conversations with the director about doing uh a tour of the airport facilities.

Um we do have some newer members, not just of the committee, but of the board as well.

Um and you know, historically the chair of TNC has helped arrange those in the past.

So I'm um hopeful that we'll be able to do that in the after the holiday season.

The airport's a pretty, you know, this is a pretty busy time of year for the airport.

Um so and also it's very cold at the moment.

So uh preferably sometime in spring, um, we'll get that set up and um you'll definitely get the invitation along with other members of the committee and uh our illustrious board here.

So um I also have had similar conversations with the port authority, um, Susan Taylor over there uh to uh make similar arrangements for the uh port district along the riverfront.

So um I will keep you both uh up to date on that.

Um and then airport, uh I'm sorry, my head is in a bit of a fog at the moment, but uh Antonio, I know in the past we've done kind of a general overview of airport finances, um, just you know, because St.

Louis is a bit of an anomaly.

You know, there aren't many airports structured the way that uh St.

Louis is nationally, and um, so maybe we could work on doing something like that for the beginning of the year as well.

Yeah, that would be great.

I know I presented in the past a little presentation uh that talked about the finance of the airport and kind of how airports run.

Uh so I would be happy to present that to the board or committee.

There's so many different uh you know, debt service funds and development funds and things of that nature.

I think it's just really important for the committee in particular to have a good understanding of that.

So um if we could uh work on doing something like that in the new year as well, that would be wonderful.

All right.

Uh Madam Clerk, are there any public comments on Board Bill 18?

We have not.

Uh are there any further questions or comments from the committee on board bill 118?

Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion on board bill 118.

I move the repas board bill 118 with a due pass recommendation.

Second.

Previous role.

Move by the Alder Woman from the first ward, seconded by the Alderman from the fourth ward that we pass board bill 118 with the due pass recommendation.

There's been a call for previous role.

Is there any objection to previous role?

Hearing and seeing none, Board Bill 118 passes out of committee with a due pass recommendation.

Those are the uh three items on our agenda for today.

And this will probably be the last TNC meeting for the year, um, given that we only have two and a half more weeks left in the year, and we're now on winter recess.

So appreciate everyone taking time out of your uh day today to uh have these discussions and um be safe, stay warm.

And um, Madam Clerk, if you could please make note that the alderman from the second ward should be excused for necessary absence.

Um with that, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

I move that we adjourn.

Second, previous roll.

It's been moved by the alderman from the fourth, seconded by the alder woman from the first that we adjourn.

All those in favor signify by saying I.

Oh, well, there's been a well, I don't think well, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Let's roll.

That sounded over sounding.

I'll see you guys at urgent care.

Thank you all.

Hope you feel better, Sharp.

Take care.