The tanged web between these companies sounds hard to interpret, but bottom line appears that once again someone is trying to demo something that they have no right to touch. People must be doing this all the damn time and getting by with it! https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/cotton-belt-demo-permit-application-unauthorized-building-owner-says/article_ee8b54e5-4520-5a3d-beb7-771556b28018.html

I've heard of this happening in the past and one of things that seems odd about that is why would someone pay to take down a building owned by someone else? Would they add insult to injury by sending the bill to the owner afterward?

That's actually standard practice in and by most major U.S. cities today--when they actually get around to demolishing such eyesores.