New Report to Mayor Jones Addresses the Future of Railway Exchange, Millennium Hotel, Great Rivers Greenway’s Trautman to Retire in 2025, and More
Not rendering correctly? View this email as a web page here
“We’re Already Taking Bold Action”: New Report to Mayor Jones Addresses the Future of Railway Exchange, Millennium Hotel, and More
Greater St. Louis, Inc. and the St. Louis Development Corporation today delivered to St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones the report she requested on May 17 of this year for a “plan for bold action” in the ensuing 120 days to address the future of two large vacant Downtown properties: the Railway Exchange Building and the Millennium Hotel.
“In May of this year, Mayor Jones asked for a plan for bold action on two vacant properties that have been hurdles to Downtown St. Louis reaching its true potential: the Millennium Hotel and the Railway Exchange Building,” said Jason Hall, CEO of GSL. “But instead of just developing a plan, we’ve worked in partnership with the City, our investors, and Downtown partners, and we’re already taking bold action to address the future of these properties and drive new investment Downtown.”
The report noted that one of the imperative steps was securing control of both sites so that they are in the hands of local owners who will keep them secure and advance plans for redevelopment that will benefit St. Louis. GSL and SLDC announced that significant steps toward securing local site control of both properties is already underway. In addition, since May 17, the private sector has announced major new investments Downtown totaling over $330 million.
“In a short amount of time, GSL and SLDC have made remarkable progress toward reactivating these two prominently vacant and blighted Downtown properties,” SLDC’s President and CEO, Neal Richardson said. “While there is still more work to be done, having local ownership engaged in the future of Millennium Hotel and eventual City-control of Railway Exchange allows us to proactively find long-term development partners to advance community driven plans that will remove blight and positively impact the vibrancy in Downtown St. Louis.”
Said Mayor Tishaura O. Jones.: "Today, the St. Louis Development Corporation and Greater St. Louis, Inc. showed that our public-private partnership is already delivering results for Downtown St. Louis. I'm grateful to everyone who helped answer my call for bold action."
Consortium Aims to Make St. Louis a Neuroscience Hub
Two GSL investors — Washington University and BioSTL — are leading the charge to make St. Louis a hub for neuroscience research and commercialization. The coalition, dubbed Neuro360, is applying for up to $160 million in funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation that would designate St. Louis an NSF Regional Innovation Engine around neuroscience research and development.
An Arch Grants agtech startup has received a vote of confidence from John Deere. HabiTerre, whose CEO Nick Reinke is based in St. Louis, has just raised more than $10 million in a funding round led by the agricultural machinery giant. The influx in funding will allow HabiTerre, which plans to open an office in the metro, to scale its technology to more farmers and now, large-scale companies. Read more about HabiTerre in this week’s STLMade story.
15 Years Connecting the Metro: Great Rivers Greenway’s Trautman to Retire
CEO Susan Trautman will retire next year from Great Rivers Greenway, the organization announced this week. Throughout her 15-year tenure, the public-private partnership doubled the number of greenway trail miles in the region, added destination park projects, and launched the plan for the Brickline Greenway, a bold vision to connect 14 city neighborhoods and four anchor parks with 10 miles of greenway. Her official retirement in May 2025 will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the vote that created the agency. The search for Trautman’s replacement will begin in the next month.
Trautman's "incredible dedication and civic leadership has been truly instrumental in growing the impact of Great Rivers Greenway and strengthening our region the past 15 years," said Penny Pennington, Edward Jones Managing Partner, GSL Board Member, and head of the fundraising committee for the Brickline Greenway.
After Global Search, MO Botanical Garden Names First Woman President
For the newly named President and Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden — a GSL Chair’s Council member — assuming the position is a homecoming. A native of Brazil, Lucia G. Lohmann earned master’s and doctoral degrees in ecology, evolution, and systematics from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Garden's Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development: “I grew up as a student here at the Garden.”
RAC Supports Arts Tourism in St. Louis with $5M in Grants
After receiving $10.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding from the City of St. Louis in 2023, the Regional Arts Commission — a member of GSL’s Investor Council — has successfully distributed all funds to support arts, art organizations, and beautification projects. The organization’s capstone investment of $5 million in Arts Tourism grants this month supports organizations with staffing, marketing, programs, and initiatives that attract more visitors to St. Louis City.
The St. Louis Business Journal this week honored individuals and organizations doing what they can to make St. Louis a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community through efforts at their companies and in the community. Honorees at the Champions for Diversity & Inclusion Awards included GSL’s Dr. Trezette Dixon, Ed.D., Senior Director of the Fellows Experience, a leadership program that advances the careers and deepens the leadership capacity of multicultural professionals.
GeoFutures Week Showcases St. Louis Geospatial Strengths
This week, the national geospatial community has convened in St. Louis for GeoFutures Week, a five-day collection of events, conferences, opportunities, and more, all highlighting St. Louis as the national center for geospatial technology — called out in the STL 2030 Jobs Plan as a key growth industry. “It’s so important for us to do things like this and to really position St. Louis as a center for geospatial excellence,” said Maggie Kost, GSL’s Chief Business Attraction Officer.
Taylor Geospatial Institute Challenge Tackles Food Security
The Taylor Geospatial Institute has launched a research and innovation challenge to demonstrate how emerging geospatial technologies and methods can promote security, sustainability, and equity across the global food system. The TGI Geospatial Innovation for Food Security Challenge, which brings together an interdisciplinary community of researchers, innovators, and implementers, will kick off with its first workshop Nov. 13.
