ST. LOUIS 鈥 The chief of the 50度灰视频 Development Corp. on Wednesday pledged to focus resources from an unprecedented infusion of federal aid on four struggling areas of the city, part of the plan guiding the city鈥檚 new economic development philosophy under Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.
SLDC Director Neal Richardson and Jones spoke to a gathering of several hundred of the city鈥檚 business and political elite Wednesday during the Mayor鈥檚 Business Luncheon 鈥 the first time both new leaders had the opportunity to use the 20-year-old event to outline their economic development policies. SLDC has grown its staffing from about 80 to 100 people to begin implementing the new approach, Richardson said.
鈥淭hat may not sound like a huge jump, but that鈥檚 significant,鈥 he told the gathering. 鈥淚t鈥檚 bringing in people who are passionate about the future of 50度灰视频.鈥
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Richardson, whom Jones nominated to lead SLDC in the months following her election last year, took the opportunity to announce the agency鈥檚 rebrand and release two major policy documents 鈥 in the works for a year 鈥 meant to signal the priorities of the new administration.
One, the , is a 78-page list of SLDC鈥檚 development priorities and philosophy focused on directing resources to disinvested areas of north and south 50度灰视频 with the most potential for growth. The second is , such as property tax abatement, meant to add some consistency to a development process that some in the industry complained was ad hoc in the administration鈥檚 early days.
鈥淲e want to make sure that these expectations and these development processes are more transparent, honest and accessible to both developers and our residents,鈥 Jones told the gathering in Marriott鈥檚 downtown ballroom. 鈥淯nder the fierce leadership of Neal Richardson, SLDC has embraced this effort, building out a process and a structure to make sure anyone looking to do business in 50度灰视频 knows exactly what it will take to do so.鈥
To increase transparency, Richardson said SLDC 鈥 which staffs an alphabet soup of development boards that award development tax breaks 鈥 will begin recording its meetings and posting them online in January, mirroring the practice of the Board of Aldermen and many other city agencies.
鈥淲e want people to see that we are scoring these projects consistently, we鈥檙e being transparent and that businesses and developers will know exactly what to expect,鈥 Richardson said in an interview.
The scorecard, which isn鈥檛 yet final, will lay out a point system that SLDC staff will use to determine how much tax abatement development projects should receive. The scoring will be affected by where the project is located and how much affordable housing will be provided. But points also will be added for other benefits, such as walkability, proximity to transit and historic preservation. It sets a minimum score for the use of tax increment financing, or TIF, and sets a maximum of 90% property tax abatement that the city will approve.
SLDC hired consultants PGAV and for $150,000 to develop the Economic Justice Action Plan a year ago. The plan echoes some of the recommendations in the released in 2020 鈥 one Jones said during her campaign for mayor she didn鈥檛 think 鈥渢old us anything new.鈥 For instance, SLDC plans to hire seven 鈥渘eighborhood managers鈥 focused on helping residents organize neighborhood associations and connecting them with nonprofits and government resources. A similar recommendation came out of the 2020 plan.
But the Economic Justice Action Plan does narrow the SLDC鈥檚 priorities and take into consideration the nearly $500 million in American Rescue Plan Act money sent to the city, tens of millions of which SLDC is already administering for new housing and business programs.
Four target areas
The plan identifies four areas for SLDC staff to focus its resources on, which it calls 鈥渄emonstration areas鈥: The Martin Luther King Drive corridor from Grand Boulevard to the city limits; Walnut Park; a swath of Dutchtown and Mount Pleasant along Meramec Street; and the neighborhoods surrounding the under-construction National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
SLDC wants to spur the construction or rehab of hundreds of housing units in the areas. Richardson said the agency plans to use a new $15 million housing development and mortgage fund it created earlier this year using some of the $20 million in ARPA money and federal New Markets Tax Credits. It also has a new $37 million grant program for north city commercial corridors that can help rehab commercial space in some of the priority neighborhoods.
鈥淭here鈥檚 already developers in those neighborhoods,鈥 Richardson told the newspaper. 鈥淭hey just need access to capital.鈥
Another priority is a more aggressive assemblage and marketing of real estate owned by the city鈥檚 Land Reutilization Authority, the owner of thousands of abandoned properties throughout the city. That may mean acquiring privately-owned land near clusters of LRA real estate to assemble more attractive development sites, an effort Richardson said will require 鈥渄eep conversations鈥 with private sources of capital.
LRA leadership there was shaken up this year after SLDC ousted longtime chief Laura Costello and paused the land bank鈥檚 sales to reevaluate its holdings and strategy. Richardson said Lance Knuckles, who has led LRA on an interim basis since Costello鈥檚 ouster, will head the agency on a permanent basis.
The plan also calls for the creation of an 鈥渆conomic justice fund鈥 to implement the plan鈥檚 priorities using ARPA money. Some $200 million in ARPA has yet to be appropriated by the 50度灰视频 Board of Aldermen.