Really solid work from Eric on this. As I told him, and as a few people noted in the article, downtown STL has a lot of major destinations that draw millions of visitors each year: the Arch, BPV, Union Station, CityPark, Enterprise Center, City Museum, the Dome/convention center, etc. But the problem is that the connections between these spots aren’t as seamless or intuitive as they should be. Getting from one to the other on foot or bike often feels disconnected or uninviting, and that limits the potential of downtown as a whole.
There are two things that need to happen to fix that, and one is already in motion: better infrastructure. The 7th Street improvements connecting Wash Ave to BPV are a great start. Wash Ave and 4th Street are next, and the Brickline Greenway from the Arch to Compton is another piece of the puzzle. But infrastructure alone isn’t enough—those routes need to be activated with restaurants, bars, shops, and things to do along the way.
We just saw $1.8 billion spent in downtown in 2024, 5 times more than Clayton and $100m more than entire city of Chesterfield. That number could grow a lot more if people felt there were more options and reasons to linger and explore beyond just their destination.
Also worth watching: there’s a bill in the state legislature that hasn’t gotten much local attention yet, but it would create an “entertainment district” that covers downtown. It comes with $2.5 million/year in state funding for off-duty police patrols. One detail that might be controversial, it may also allow the district to prohibit minors from being there without adult supervision after certain hours.
Right now, we’ve got SLMPD, federal park rangers, federal reserve police, SLU police, GSL ambassadors, CID safety staff, and Union Station and BPV all have private security—all operating downtown, but mostly in silos. There’s manpower, but no unified strategy. If this new district just adds another layer without coordinating what’s already there, it’s hard to see how it helps much.
