ST. LOUIS — Hundreds of state workers could soon leave the city for the county. Now, St. Louis leaders are sounding off about the potential mass exodus.
The business bombshell came Tuesday during a state meeting with Governor Mike Parson and other key leaders. Local leaders said it won’t stop their efforts to give downtown a boost.
"This announcement is unwelcome and unhelpful,” a spokesman for Greater St. Louis, Inc. said in a statement.
The group is working to boost downtown and unite the St. Louis region. City leaders said the proposal to re-locate hundreds of workers comes as a tough blow.
"This really feels like the state giving up on downtown,” Alderwoman Cara Spencer said.
Tuesday, city leaders learned the state voted to pursue the sale of two buildings in downtown St. Louis: the Wainwright Office Building on North 7th Street and the Mill Creek Office Building on South Jefferson.
Some 600 state workers could soon relocate to Chesterfield. A spokesman for the governor said it’s to consolidate unused or underutilized state office space and to cut costs.
"We need to keep as many people in the city of St. Louis but also in downtown,” said Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, who is concerned about the timing. "We’re already in limbo with our earnings tax and to be losing more people that won’t be paying into that tax, which generates one third of our city's budget, is a little concerning…. Those are funds that go to infrastructure. Those are funds that go to streets, utilities."
"I want to know where the city of St. Louis, where the administration was working with the state of Missouri,” Spencer added.
"There was no prior communication from the Governor or any member of the Board about the sale of these buildings. We are certainly sorry for the state employees who will be displaced, and are working to learn more about the impact, if any, this could have on St. Louis City,” a spokesperson for Mayor Tishaura Jones said in a statement.
"This is a huge opportunity to reel them back and work with the state (and have) the state of Missouri, not just the earnings tax, but having their presence downtown to understand our challenges,
to understand our assets, and really be able to work with us to really breathe that necessary life back to our downtown area,” Spencer added.
"Things are on the up and up (with the) soccer stadium, City Gardens being renovated downtown, there's businesses coming … St. Louis is known for not giving up,” Aldridge said.
Under the proposal, some workers would relocate to a different building in the city on Choteau Avenue.
Greater St. Louis Inc. said it will continue working with the city and other partners to revitalize downtown and make it "safe, vibrant and beautiful."