The county Port Authority now has the power to sell county facilities and acquire property related to the construction of a new Family Courts building.

And the World Trade Center building in Clayton could be demolished in the process.

The County Council voted 4-2 last week to approve legislation granting the Port Authority that right. Seventh District Councilman Greg Quinn, R-Ballwin, and 3rd District Councilwoman Colleen Wasinger, R-Town and Country, were opposed.

Second District Councilwoman Kathleen Burkett, D-Overland, was absent from the June 26 meeting.

Quinn told the Call he voted against final approval of the legislation because he fears “the possibility of a political transaction.”

The councilman cited the Metro transit agency’s purchase of the Meridian parking garage in Brentwood, which he said “seems to be a political transaction that is to benefit a particular supporter of the county executive.”

In April, a whistleblower lawsuit was unsealed that alleged Metro paid roughly $5.9 million to purchase additional parking spaces in the parking garage, at Hanley and Interstate 64, to benefit a developer and campaign contributor to County Executive Charlie Dooley.

“And that being the case, I am not willing to allow the buying and selling of real estate using a less open and transparent process than our established bid process provides,” Quinn said.

The councilman also said he does not “want to see politics, again, injected into a real-estate transaction.”

“The Port Authority doesn’t have to choose the highest offer,” he said. “They can sell to anyone who offers 95 percent of the value of the appraisal that the county is going to seek, and so I guess, again, I fear the possibility of a political transaction.”

Port Authority Chair Sheila Sweeney said the transactions that will need to take place to “make way for the new St. Louis County Family Court building” are fairly complex.

“Because of the way St. Louis County Port Authority is chartered, it will take the lead in completing the sale and transfer of several buildings,” Sweeney said in a written statement. “Completing these transactions through the Port Authority allows St. Louis County to get the highest market value for the properties and ultimately make the best use of public funds.”

Sixth District Councilman Steve Stenger, D-Affton, said the council was advised by Port Authority officials that if the Port Authority is the party participating in the transaction, it has more negotiating power.

“… (The Port Authority is) actually able to get better terms than we, as a county, are because of particular ordinances that limit our ability to use particular means to buy and sell property,” he said.

Andrew Ruben, general counsel and senior vice president for real estate and community development with the St. Louis County Economic Council, told the Call there are two “principal reasons” the Port Authority is involved with the sale of real estate for this transaction.

“The first is that staff of the Port Authority — and this is really the real-estate division of the Economic Council — has commercial real-estate expertise that, really, other county departments don’t,” Ruben said. “… We just have the core expertise, so there’s a matter of technical facilitation that we do this for the county from time to time.”

The Port Authority’s purchasing process is done under Missouri state law, according to Ruben, which means it can “get into the market (on) the same basis as another acquirer in a way the county, in certain cases, cannot.”

Ruben said the Port Authority will explore different options, then negotiate “with the goal of ending up with a best-case acquisition sale contract.”

“It looks like any other commercial real-estate deal,” Ruben said.

Under Missouri’s Open Records and Meetings law, also known as the Sunshine Law, the Port Authority, a public agency, is able to keep the transaction confidential until the sale or acquisition of property is complete.

Katy Jamboretz, vice president of marketing and communications for the Economic Council, said the confidentiality aspect “has to do with getting the best price.”

In contrast, Ruben said County Council has always voted on real-estate purchases in open session.

The Family Justice Center is being constructed through funding from Proposition S, a $100-million bond issue county voters approved in April. Prop S, which did not require a tax-rate increase, also will fund renovations and safety improvements at the existing County Courthouse.

Jamboretz said the courts project is exciting and will be a great addition to the family court system.

“The building that is going away is just a totally inadequate building,” Jamboretz said. “… (The new building) is going to be something that will really improve the quality of life for St. Louis.”

Part of the agreement with the Port Authority includes possible demolition of the World Trade Center building in Clayton.

County Department of Highways and Traffic spokesman David Wrone previously told the Call, at this point, the plan is to demolish the World Trade Center building because of a lack of vacant ground in the area. As proposed, the site of the World Trade Center would be used as a staging area for construction of the new Family Courts building.

Stenger said county officials have said for years the World Trade Center building “had exceeded its useful life.”

“To the extent that that is true, I don’t have any real objection to (demolishing the World Trade Center) if it leads to a better (over)all piece of infrastructure county residents could use,” Stenger said.

When asked for a comment regarding the possible demolition of the World Trade Center, Quinn said he still is reviewing the matter, and he did not know if he could give a “satisfactory answer” to the question.