Urbanism, redevelopment, and the stakeholders of St. Louis

posted at 2:50 pm on June 4, 2009 by Patrick Ishmael

The St. Louis region is one of contrasts. On the one hand, St. Louis County is one of the richest and most populous counties in Missouri. On the other hand, St. Louis City — which, thanks to an odd twist of fate, is an entity separate from the county — is one of many long suffering urban areas beset by crime, poverty, and governmental mismanagement. I’ve written about it many times.

One solution to the problem is, of course, economic development, which itself is oftentimes (but not always) spurred on by market forces. Such is the question posed to St. Louisans today, as a local developer has proposed to take about 500 acres of St. Louis real estate, much of it in some the most dangerous sections of the city, and redevelop it. The cost of financing the conversion: $1.1 billion, a tab that would to a large extent, if not to the full extent, be picked up by the government.

Lots of prickly issues here — which I address over at the American Issues Project — but definitely given the current state of the area that would be redeveloped, the project is something that ought to be looked at very closely, as the upside could be tremendous. The article is here.

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