http://stldevelops.com STL Develops discusses investments in St. Louis Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:05:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Last month I attended a community forum at the Old Post Office hosted by FOCUS St. Louis and Metropolis St. Louis. The forum was about how a global economy affects the Midwest. Panelists were Richard Longworth, senior fellow at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and author of Caught in ... http://stldevelops.com/a-global-midwest 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 ... http://stldevelops.com/grand-center 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 ... http://stldevelops.com/missouri-foreclosure-purchase-assistance 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 ... http://stldevelops.com/do-we-have-community-in-st-louis 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 ... http://stldevelops.com/st-louis-regionalism-is-possible Today’s  New York Times article has brought to the forefront of my mind the repeated backwards thinking of our city. Our decision to not fund public transportation as ridership increases and the national trend away from sprawling development towards urban development begins to take hold, is truly mind blowing.    Its ... http://stldevelops.com/st-louis-metro-in-the-new-york-times-how-embarrassing [caption id="attachment_65" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="St. Louis"][/caption] I recently had a friend of my cousin’s move to St. Louis.  As I took him around town, helping him find his new home, we were talking about how he got here.  He mentioned that he had an opportunity to move to Minneapolis or St. ... http://stldevelops.com/where-are-we-going-as-a-region I recently attended the holiday luncheon for the St. Louis Section of the American Planning Association (APA). In the beginning of the luncheon, Dr. Mark Abbott of Harris Stowe and the current President of the APA St. Louis chapter mentioned that he thought St. Louis was the most important city ... http://stldevelops.com/st-louis-is-it-the-most-important-city-for-planners MetroLink is at a crossroads. Faced with budget restraints Metro is either going to have to reduce services if funding levels remain the same or expand service if St. Louis County voters approve a 1/2 cent sales tax increase to along with an already approved city increase. In ... http://stldevelops.com/metro-public-transportation-in-st-louis-and-sales-tax-increase I want to start off by saying that I believe the United States is an amazing place to live.  After traveling to 10 different countries in Europe, North America, and the Middle East, I think the US is actually one of the least prejudice places I have been in the ... http://stldevelops.com/fha-and-segregation-in-st-louis