A Boeing executive has agreed to pay $2.8 million for the Wentzville mansion built at a cost of more than $10 million for Cory Atkinson, one of the brothers who started the now-bankrupt US Fidelis.

Construction costs associated with the 15,000-square-foot house were paid by US Fidelis, and creditors later alleged those payments and similar ones benefitting Darain Atkinson helped bring down the company, which sold extended-service contracts on automobiles.

Last year, the Atkinsons surrendered cash, luxury cars and mansions and other properties to settle a suit by their company, which is being run by an independent management team. In December, the company sold for $4.75 million Darain Atkinson's Lake Saint Louis compound, which was built at a cost of more than $26.7 million.

Cory and Darain Atkinson last month were indicted on charges of fraud, theft and illegally selling insurance. According to documents filed with the bankruptcy court on Tuesday, the company has received a $2.8 million offer on Cory Atkinson's house from George Roman, Boeing's vice president of state and local government operations, and his wife, Betty. Others will have until Aug. 1 to make a competing bid of at least $2.85 million. (Matthew Hathaway)

Metropolitan Building project is set • Construction is likely to begin next week on the project to put 72 artists' apartments in the dilapidated Metropolitan Building in Grand Center. The biggest chunk of the financing for the $25 million project was completed Tuesday when the St. Louis Industrial Development Authority approved issuance of nearly $21 million in tax-exempt bonds. Dominium Development, of Minneapolis, plans to complete the project by next July.

Studios for painters, sculptors, musicians and dancers are included in the development. Most of the financing is from state and federal historic preservation tax credits, state and federal low-income housing tax credits, state brownfields credits, loans from the city's Affordable Housing Assistance Program and a $1.3 million Grand Center loan.

Completion of the sale will mean the city-run St. Louis Development Corp. will get back the $500,000 it lent in 2009 to help settle a bank's suit against one of the building's former owners, once-prominent developer John Steffen. He had been accused of tax credit fraud tied to the building, at 500 North Grand Boulevard. Christopher Ahrens, a lawyer for Dominium, said the city-run agency will be repaid when the Metropolitan Building's sale closes on Friday. The money will not come from bond proceeds, he said. (Tim Bryant)

Corn supplies exceed forecast • Corn supplies are projected to be higher than expected this fall. A bigger crop would ease concerns of a grain shortage and could slow food inflation later this year. The U.S. Agriculture Department said that 880 million bushels of corn will be left over when the harvest begins. That's an increase from the previous estimate of 730 million bushels. Higher corn prices led farmers to plant the second biggest corn crop this year since World War II.

GM spending on plants in Midwest • General Motors Co. says it will invest an additional $130 million in three plants in the Midwest. GM is investing $115 million in its Toledo, Ohio, and Bedford, Ind., plants so they can supply cars with eAssist, an optional system designed to improve fuel economy by 25 percent. The company is also investing $15 million in a Wyoming, Mich., plant for other engine components.

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