STL Develops

I recently attended a meeting of the Urban Land Institute’s Young Leaders Group  in Grand Center.  If you don’t know Grand Center  by name, it is the area around The Fox Theater.  The two speakers were Ken Christian Director, Real Estate Development Grand Center, Inc and Steve Smith President at The Lawrence Group.  The discussion was a very interesting overview of what is happening in Grand Center, followed by a case study of Steve Smith’s entrepreneurial endeavours in the center. 

            The area is a center for the arts with  12,000 theatre seats within 4 blocks and 12 galleries and museums.  The physical beauty of the architecture and the location of the district make it interesting in terms of real estate investment.  Grand Center is located between downtown St. Louis and the Central West End.  The neighborhoods between Grand Center and Downtown as well as the area between Grand Center and the Central West End have been suffering from disinvestment for years.  I asked the presenters about Grand Center’s role in these areas and they indicated they felt the private market would invest in and rehabilitate these areas.  I feel they are correct, especially given that Saint Louis University is an anchor in the area, the coretex life sciences  district is adjecent, Washington University is near the Central West End, and people are moving back to the city.  Look for the area between the Central West End and Downtown to experience substantial development in the next decade.  The city government should be actively planning and setting zoning to ensure that existing residents are included in the coming redevelopment.  We’ll see.

The state of Missouri is offering up to $14,999 for down payment and closing costs for owner occupied housing purchasers of foreclosed property. Qualified buyers can receive up to 20% of the purchase price with a $14,999 cap. The loan is offered at 0% interest and is forgiven after 5 years of occupancy. First time home buyers are eligible for the $8,000 federal tax credit in addition to this program!

To qualify the income limit is 120% of the area median income, for example $81,450 for a family of 4 (See Chart of Income Eligibility). In addition, the borrower is required to receive 8 hours of homeownership counseling. This program is very appealing and applies to many individuals. For more information on requirements go to the MHDC website or contact me for a referral to a certified lender. Don’t waste money on foreclosure lists,I’ll be happy to send you a list of foreclosures available by school district, county, city, size or just about any other search criteria you desire.

A quote I recently read in the December 2008 issue of Urban Land which is published by the Urban Land Institute, made me think about St. Louis.  The author Patrick Hanlon, a community branding expert, wrote “The strength of community lies in spirit-shared values, trust in one’s neighbors, and a vision filled with hope and dreams.” Do we have these elements of spirit Hanlon outlines?

He later outlines 7 elements that are strands of a community’s culture: creation story, creed, icons, rituals, lexicon, non-believers, and leaders and claims cities with a rich cultural heritage relish all of them.  Do we have these elements?

I think we are stronger in the elements of community culture than the strengthening elements of spirit Hanlon outlines.  I would like to know how you feel. Where are we strong? Where are we lacking? What is our creation story, icons, lexicon? Who are our leaders?

After my last post, I feel I was a bit harsh on my home town. I only get angry because I care, and public transportation is an extremely important issue for the future of our region. That being said, we have some tremendous initiatives in our region as evidenced by our designation as an All American City by the National Civic League in 2008. Initiatives that prove St. Louisans have demonstrated the ability to work together for super ordinate goals. The National Civic League cited the Great Rivers Greenway District, Downtown Now, and The Boomerang Press as examples of exceptional regional collaboration. These examples are all large-scale initiatives that involve government collaboration, along with private assistance, and volunteer work. I think it is important to note that these initiatives involve cooperation and various stakeholders working together for something greater than the some of its parts. These types of projects make our region attractive, but they cannot be realized by individual municipalities or as for profit initiatives. They must be a regional collaboration. This means that some areas will benefit first and maybe more than others. For example, new “Greenways” cannot be created in all areas at once, even though everyone is paying for them. All too often, stakeholders including taxpayers, politicians, and business people will support projects only when they see an immediate benefit for their lifestyle, town, or company respectively. The author of the editorial page in the 6/11/08 Post Dispatch summed up regionalism and this award well:

“The big challenge for St. Louis remains taking regionalism far beyond bike trails and arts projects. In some minds, “regionalism” is code for “city-county merger.” That’s politically unlikely here, though it should be noted that Louisville, Ky., Nashville, Tenn., and Indianapolis all have adopted some form of metropolitan-wide government.

All of them are competitors for jobs and industry with St. Louis, and all have seen improvements in government efficiencies and economies because they took regionalism to scale.

However unlikely metro-wide government might be in St. Louis, there still are efficiencies the region could take short of merger — collaborative efforts on transportation, transit, economic development, tax incentives, police and fire protection and airport governance to name but a few. The entire metro region should celebrate its All-America recognition and strive to act more regionally more often.”
We have a city with tremendous assets and talented people. These existing assets and the demonstrated ability to work together to create very positive progressive initiatives is what makes it so frustrating when we miss out on opportunities to really propel ourselves forward. Although, we missed the opportunity to fund Metrolink expansion at a crucial time, hopefully the next opportunity we have to further a major regional plan or service will be seized.