The long shadow of 20th century urban renewal strategies color the debate over three potential redevelopment proposals for the site of the former site of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex on St. Louis' Near North Side.
"Energy (and money) is mounting on St. Louis’ Near North Side," writes Alexis Stephens. "Three separate development projects that all touch the densely overgrown gravesite of what was Pruitt-Igoe public housing are leveraging city, state and federal power to transform the area, while residents grow even more anxious about what the future holds."
Stephens details the three projects: the Northside Regeneration project (which has already secured $390 million in tax increment financing), the relocation of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and a transformation project led by Urban Strategies and backed by a $500,000 Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
According to Stephens, "all offer different quality-of-life improvements and economic development potential, but also real threats of displacement and gentrification."
Writing for the UrbanReviewSTL site, Steve Patterson also drills down on the details of each of the three plans on the table to make the argument that St. Louis is clinging to the failed lessons of urban renewal.
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