ST. LOUIS — A state appeals court on Tuesday upheld a 2023 trial court ruling that the head of St. Louis Lambert International Airport had the power to terminate a lease agreement with a firm that proposed a $100 million air cargo facility.
Bi-National Gateway Terminal LLC and its leader, Ricardo Farias Nicolopulos, appealed the November 2023 decision by St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Jason Sengheiser. He sided with the city’s stance that Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge could terminate the lease without getting approval from other city officials.
Hamm-Niebrugge terminated an amended lease with Bi-National in 2019, saying the firm had not satisfied its requirements including a provision to show documentation it had financing in place for the cargo project. She said Tuesday that the appeals court ruling was what she expected.
Attorney Joe Jacobson, who represented Bi-National and Nicolopulos in the lawsuit filed in 2019 against the city – which owns the airport – said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the unanimous appeals court ruling.
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