ST. LOUIS (AP) - The long-delayed NorthSide Regeneration project in St. Louis is expected to get started by November.
Developer Paul McKee said he is meeting every 10 days with city officials to get the project started as soon as possible, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/18OGWbz) reported.
The $8 billion development by McKee's NorthSide Regeneration LLC is envisioned eventually to include 10,000 homes and millions of square feet of office space in an impoverished two-square-mile area north of downtown St. Louis.
The project got a boost from a Missouri Supreme Court ruling in April that gave the go-ahead to nearly $400 million in city financing for road and street work.
McKee said he is getting more calls from potential tenants now that the lawsuit is finished.
"Now that the lights are on, we're getting a lot of interest," he said at a meeting last week of residents of the city's 5th Ward. Much of the ward is in the 1,500-acre project area.
At the meeting, McKee described plans to train and employ neighborhood residents in NorthSide projects. He cited a goal that a quarter of construction jobs go to people from the immediate neighborhood.
He also is working with local business people on plans to help startups and small businesses.
McKee said he is continuing to buy land even though the Missouri Legislature decided not to extend a tax credit that reimburses his purchase and borrowing costs.
McKee said the area eventually would be run by an elected committee of residents and business owners. He did not offer a timeline for when that group would be created.