What NorthPark might mean for North City

From the St. Louis American. Thursday, May 22, 2008

This week we introduce a new occasional reporting series, "Anatomy of Inclusion," that will take the NorthPark project in North County as a case study in minority inclusion. The series will take the good (exemplary minority inclusion on the project to date, according to a consultant) with the bad (at a heavy financial cost, according to the developers). It will probe the sore spots in this industry dynamic - the problem of minority-contractor capacity, the shortage of minorities in skilled trades - and endeavor to get powerful players on all sides of the table to say in public the candid (and often biting) things they say in private.

Though it is too early, to be sure, NorthPark seems to point the way toward a kind of success story that the St. Louis region needs badly.

We all know the region is fragmented politically, yet here three municipalities and County government were able to arrive at a complicated agreement that allowed development to proceed on fair terms. The nature of business is competition, yet here two commercial developers (Clayco and McEagle) were induced to cooperate. African Americans in St. Louis do not participate in the benefits of economic development proportional to their presence in the population, yet here the project is being scrutinized systematically in an effort to see that there is fair economic inclusion. Of $33.6 million contracted on NorthPark site infrastructure, according to a consultant, 26.65 percent (or nearly $9 million) has gone to minority-owned business enterprises.

Of course, the leadership of St. Louis County - in particular, that of Mike Jones, the County's senior economic policy advisor - far surpasses the leadership of St. Louis City in experience, wisdom and openness to scrutiny. We can only hope that Mayor Slay and his policy advisors Jeff Rainford and Barbara Geisman pay close attention to the dynamics of the NorthPark development. With the City's recent, successive failures on the Centene deal, Ballpark Village and with Pyramid (whatever role macroeconomics may have played in those disappointments), it is evident that Slay and his team have much to learn about guiding economic development in a prudent and inclusive manner.

Also, all eyes in the city should follow NorthPark closely, because the project represents McEagle's first foray into setting goals for minority inclusion. McEagle is led by Chris McKee and part of the development group, led by his father Paul McKee Jr., that continues to assemble land in North St. Louis. The development goals for this land have been shared with Slay and his advisors, but with few others.

The numbers to date on the NorthPark project, according to an industry consultant who specializes in minority inclusion, are encouraging. It is clear that McEagle, as much as Clayco, is serious about meeting these goals and including the entire community in the economic benefits of development. It is hoped that the development plans for North St. Louis, as they move forward, are shared with the wider community as well. It is also imperative that City officials hold developers in the city to the same - or higher - standards of minority inclusion as established for NorthPark.