Month: November 2019

M Property Services Director of Construction Management Dr. Ramona Tumblin-Rucker Receives Prestigious MOKAN Award

Dr. Ramona Tumblin-Rucker, PEng, MBA, MPM, CHC, D. Mgt., Director of Construction Management at M Property Services (pictured center), receives the “Private Sector Executive of the Year” award from MOKAN Executive Director Yaphett El-Amin (left) and MOKAN Dinner Chair Honorable Jamilah Nasheed (right).

M Property Services Director of Construction Management Dr. Ramona Tumblin-Rucker Receives Prestigious MOKAN Award

Dr. Ramona Tumblin-Rucker, PEng, MBA, MPM, CHC, D. Mgt., Director of Construction Management at M Property Services (MPS), has been awarded the prestigious “Private Sector Executive of the Year” award by the MOKAN Construction Contractors Assistance Center. Dr. Tumblin-Rucker received her award at the organization’s 45th Annual MOKAN Awards dinner on Nov. 22 in St. Louis.

Since 1974, MOKAN has been at the forefront of efforts to provide opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses on construction projects in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. MOKAN’s goal is to increase the number of qualified MBE and WBE contractors and workers, as well as increase the amount of public and private dollars spent with them.

“I am blessed and I take great pride that an industry trailblazer like MOKAN would find M Property Services and our work worthy of such an important award. Like MOKAN efforts to bring innovation to the industry of construction, we at MPS are bringing innovation to urban development and uplifting economic opportunity by creating jobs and improving the landscape of North St. Louis,” said Dr. Tumblin-Rucker.

Hired by M Property Services in April 2019, Dr. Tumblin-Rucker has been focused on oversite and construction management for projects within MPS Chairman and CEO Paul McKee, Jr.’s NorthSide Regeneration development, a 1,500-acre mixed-use revitalization of underserved North St. Louis located less than a mile from Downtown St. Louis, The Gateway Arch and Busch Stadium.

With a $390 million TIF approved for public infrastructure improvements, NorthSide Regeneration provides a unique and remarkable opportunity to apply new technologies in health, energy, transportation, housing and education. To date, $107 million in private investments have funded the acquisition of 2,300 individual lots, development planning and the start of site clean-up. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has committed to building a $1.7 billion campus on a 100-acre site within the development that would support 7,200 jobs with an average salary of approximately $95,000.

Additional plans for NorthSide Regeneration include three million square feet for offices, two million square feet for retail, one million square feet for tech, 3,000 market rate residential units and a primary care hospital. A solar-powered ZOOM gas station and convenience store and GreenLeaf Market near the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge have been completed. Display homes for a new zero-energy, 250-home residential development within NorthSide Regeneration are also nearing completion.

Creating jobs is the primary motivator behind the NorthSide Regeneration development – with a goal of more than 43,000 construction jobs and 22,000 permanent jobs generated by the development’s activity.

“I am excited about the work we do at MPS. It isn’t often that our daily work touches the spirit of our heart. Every day that I can work towards building healthcare facilities, schools or community-driven projects whose intent is to improve the lives of all people; it’s awesome,” said Dr. Tumblin-Rucker. “The Private Sector Executive of the Year award will be embraced at M Property Services and we will continue to work hard to bring our best to service the community and improve our city.”

Dr. Tumblin-Rucker has a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, MO; MBA in Management from Oklahoma City University in Oklahoma City, OK; Master of Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management in St. Louis, MO and Doctor of Management from Webster University in Webster Groves, MO.

She is a member of the National Society of Black Engineers, Associated General Contractors of St. Louis, St. Louis Construction Forum, St. Louis Construction Consumers Council, Missouri Society for Healthcare Engineering, American Society for Healthcare Engineering, and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

M Property Services to Bring Much Needed Hospital, Healthworks Village to NorthSide Regeneration Development

Architectural drawing of hospital

M Property Services to Bring Much Needed Hospital, Healthworks Village to NorthSide Regeneration Development

St. Louis City Mayor Lyda Krewson signed legislation last week approving up to $8 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) assistance for a new hospital in the city’s most impoverished neighborhood of North St. Louis City. M Property Services (MPS), led by Chairman and CEO Paul McKee, Jr., partnered with medical entrepreneur Dr. David Lenihan, President and CEO of Ponce Health Sciences University (PHSU), to bring his vision for minority-focused healthcare, which includes 92 new jobs, to North St. Louis as part of the NorthSide Regeneration development.

St. Louis City Alderwoman Tammika Hubbard (D-Ward 5) introduced legislation for the TIF assistance, which the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen passed with a 23-2 vote on Oct. 18, supporting the proposed three-bed hospital with emergency room at Jefferson and Cass Avenues, plus infrastructure improvements to the surrounding area. The project has a projected total cost of about $22 million.

The approved bill also provides that the developers must prove by the end of 2021 that they have financing for a larger, second phase of the project in order to qualify for all of the TIF assistance. This second phase is presently anticipated to include construction of a $73 million, 103,000-square-foot hospital, to be named Homer G. Phillips Hospital, and medical school. TIF financing works by allowing a developer over time to recover costs it has previously expended in completing public infrastructure and other qualified improvements, by accessing a portion of the increased real property and economic activity taxes generated in the future by the new development.

“It’s been a long road, but we definitely need a hospital in North St. Louis – an area that has high rates of hypertension, the most Medicaid recipients within the entire city, lowest life expectancy, and highest infant mortality rate. On a bigger level, this will be the only hospital in North St. Louis,” said Hubbard. “This will be more than just the three-bedroom urgent care hospital; it has a phase two connected to it, which will be a healthcare village that will offer so many needs and services to people who have lived in an impoverished community in excess of 60 years because the city has failed them and not given them the resources to live in a viable, workable community with access to healthcare. This issue has been one that has been near and dear to my heart; it has been definitely near and dear to my constituents because they are the ones who have been suffering.”

The proposed Homer G. Phillips hospital, named after the only hospital for African Americans in St. Louis from 1937 to 1955 when the city still had segregated facilities, would be constructed on the former site of defunct urban housing project Pruitt-Igoe. The site is part of the 1,500-acre NorthSide Regeneration redevelopment area in North St. Louis.

“I thought it was important to the revitalization of North St. Louis City that a hospital be brought back to the community. In working with Dr. Lenihan, we were able to develop a plan that addressed the residents’ needs and desires for local healthcare that has been lacking in the community for decades. We commend Alderwoman Hubbard for her tireless efforts to help make the hospital a reality for her constituents and the forgotten residents of North St. Louis,” said McKee.

United Bank of Union, Sterling Bank and the St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council will provide a combined $8 million in loans to get the hospital project underway.

“We are proud to provide financing to the new Homer G. Phillips Hospital to bring a much-needed healthcare facility to the North Side,” said Al Bond, Executive-Secretary Treasurer of the St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council. “We invest in projects that benefit our community, and we believe this facility will achieve that.”

Global architecture, engineering and planning firm HOK has been contracted to design the hospital. KAI will provide design/build services to complete the project.