Weiland North America To Invest $500 Million In Metro East Manufacturing Facility, St. Louis Universities Double Down On Innovation and Entrepreneurship, And More
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WEILAND NORTH AMERICA TO INVEST $500 MILLION IN METRO EAST MANUFACTURING FACILITY
Gov. Pritzker joins company in East Alton to announce "one of the largest investments in the Metro East in a generation"
Weiland North America, a producer of copper and copper alloys, will invest $500 million in its East Alton, Illinois, facility, which employs 800 workers. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker supported the project as part of his Reimagining Energy and Vehicles in Illinois program, calling it “one of the largest investments in the Metro East region in a generation.”
ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITIES DOUBLE DOWN ON INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
UMSL EXPANDS ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM
The University of Missouri St. Louis — a member of the GSL Chair’s Council — this week announced the growth and expansion of what will now be known as the UMSL Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center. Formerly called UMSL Accelerates, the entrepreneurship program will begin a $3 million renovation of its facilities and add new courses to complement business education in St. Louis.
The UMSL entrepreneurship program also announced its Anchor Accelerator’s fourth cohort, which consists of five startups that will each receive a $50,000 non-dilutive grant — including GSL Diverse Business Accelerator graduate Figozo.
In collaboration with health care investment firm Deerfield Management, Washington University in St. Louis — an executive-level member of the GSL Chair’s Council — is forming a new research and development business. VeritaScience will take promising therapeutic and diagnostic drugs from discovery to commercialization.
The partnership will allow the school to translate “ever more of the landscape-altering discoveries happening in our labs into tools and therapies that will concretely improve human health and alleviate suffering,” said David Perlmutter, Dean of WashU's School of Medicine and Executive Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs.
GSL-BACKED LEGISLATION HOPES TO BOOST MANUFACTURING
This week, Greater St. Louis, Inc. testified before the Missouri House Economic Development Committee in support of the Advanced Manufacturing Recruitment Act, a bill it researched and developed to help Missouri win more advanced manufacturing megaprojects — projects with $1 billion in new capital investment and 500 jobs — and drive new investment and job growth in the St. Louis metro.
Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville was awarded a U.S. Department of Energy grant in partnership with three other community colleges, becoming a U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Assessment Center that helps manufacturers reduce waste and pollution and expand pathways to green jobs.
In an article for Governing Magazine, urban expert Bruce Katz — the author of the STL 2030 Jobs Plan — explores the nation’s shift in building advanced manufacturing capacity. He calls out St. Louis as a “winning metro” and Greater St. Louis, Inc. as an exemplar entity working to “leverage opportunities and solve challenges.”
DANFORTH CENTER NAMES PENNINGTON CHAIR OF THE BOARD
Penny Pennington, Managing Partner of Edward Jones and a GSL Board Member, was named Chair of the Board of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center — a GSL Investor Council Member — the organization announced this week.
AT $3.8B, DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT GROWS YEAR-OVER-YEAR
Downtown St. Louis currently has $3.8 billion in projects proposed, in planning, or under construction — 9% higher than last year — according to the St. Louis Business Journal. Restoring the core of the St. Louis metro is critical to the region’s growth and a key strategy of the STL 2030 Jobs Plan.
As President and CEO of the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis, a GSL Investor Council Member, Vanessa Cooksey works tirelessly to support artists and their work. The largest public funder of the arts, RAC last year awarded $4.5 million in grant funding to 350 individual artists and organizations, with a budget of $7.2 million this year.
“It's through that philanthropic activity of giving time and money that relationships are built,” Cooksey said. “That has been what I have enjoyed most about being in St. Louis are the people I’ve met who care deeply about this region and our youth, and want to do the work to make it better.”
SUGGS AND THE ST. LOUIS AMERICAN JOIN NATIONAL COLLABORATIVE
St. Louis American President and Publisher Donald Suggs, a GSL Board Member, has joined nine other Black publishers around the country in founding “Word in Black” — a national news site that focuses on solutions to racial inequities in America — and officially incorporating it as a public benefit company.
ST. LOUIS SCHOOL FOR IMMIGRANT STUDENTS DOUBLES IN SIZE
A school dedicated to immigrant students has nearly doubled in size over the past year, an indication of growing immigrant populations — vital to the overall growth of the metro. The Nahed Chapman New American Academy gained nearly 100 students this year and moved to a standalone building.
An upcoming movie about St. Louis native John O’Leary, a burn survivor turned motivational speaker and author, is the first to take advantage of a new state tax credit helping to revive the local film industry.
