ST. LOUIS (KMOX) -- You're driving past Nashville, see all the cranes, and think to yourself, 'why can't that be us?'
"If you want the kind of outcomes that the Nashvilles, the Denvers, the Charlottes have had, we have to do things like work together, be inclusive, have a common outlook on the future, and recognize no individual decision or disagreement is more important than that outcome," Greater St. Louis, Inc. CEO Jason Hall says.
KMOX News asked him what our region is doing to keep up with those fast-growing comparable cities.
While our downtown skyline isn't transforming at the same rapid clip, Hall says progress is being made here.
"You see we're the leader in geospatial; the leaders in plant and ag science," he says.
He gives an example, "a Fortune 500 company, Bunge, moving its headquarters out of New York to St. Louis to be a part of our plant science movement. That's why we've got to build around those strengths, it attracts other people, more talent, more investment."
We told you about one such industry strength last week at the establishment of the Taylor Geospatial Institute.
Universities from Illinois Urbana-Champaign to those in Rolla and Columbia, Missouri are banding together to support St. Louis becoming the nation's hub for geospatial, or location, technology. Hall says cooperation like that needs to be the default, not a special event.
"More important than any project or initiative is to work together and be bold," he says.
Hall notes the St. Louis metro area's asset base -- like research universities, Fortune 500 companies, health care systems, cultural institutions -- is starting from a much stronger place than those other regions.
The challenge, he says, is to make the metro a welcoming community with exciting careers for those taking advantage of Covid disruption to try somewhere new. He says news of 300,000 people leaving New York is an example of one of the biggest opportunities ever, if officials follow the new "STL 2030 Jobs Plan," the first such plan the region's had in years.
Most important to keep in mind?
"We don't win this work in years, we win it in decades," Hall says. "That takes a discipline for all of us."
If you're looking for St. Louis City cranes, by the way, drive 64/40 alongside the Central West End, Cortex, and Midtown area and look to the south of the interstate. You'll see several.
Downtown is also making progress. The massive Butler Brothers building -- once a public safety detriment -- is being scrubbed and rehabbed to welcome new residents who'll put eyes and ears on the neighborhood.
