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This marks the 14th year of Ernst & Young’s Entrepre-neur Of
The Year awards program, which honors the region’s leading entrepreneurial
business owners. The cover story of this issue of St. Louis Commerce
Magazine, starting on page 20, tells the fascinating stories of
these individuals, the risks they have taken and the tenacity
they have shown in growing their own businesses. Entrepreneurs
play an invaluable role in the region’s economy, providing an
indisposable foundation for economic growth. While the RCGA works
to attract new businesses to the region, we also concentrate on
cultivating the talent we already have and supporting the creation
of new enterprises. In fact, the majority of new jobs that will
be created in the coming years will be a result of the expansion
of small- to mid-size existing companies and the creating of new
firms.
An outstanding example of the relationship between entrepreneurs and their impact on economic development is the University City Loop’s hero, entrepreneur Joe Edwards, profiled on page 124. Starting out by opening a restaurant (Blueberry Hill), he has focused as much on making his restaurant a success as improving the whole neighborhood. First by helping to initiate a Special Business District, then by creating the St. Louis Walk of Fame and lastly by developing notable establishments—the Tivoli and The Pageant. One individual’s vision, with the support of fellow entrepreneurs has transformed the Loop from desolate and unpopulated to a thriving and diverse mixed-use district. And now, with the development of The Pageant, a 1,500-seat concert venue/night club, Edwards is further expanding the boundaries of the Loop. The Pageant is also one of the many notable commercial construction projects featured in this publication’s annual Commercial Construction Roundup. The shear size of this section, page 72 to 107, while only a sampling of area projects, shows the overall strength of the region’s economy. The decade closed with the dollar volume of construction at a record setting $3.7 billion and employment in the industry at a record 72,300 people. And according to five leaders in the industry, good times are expected to continue. Kem Mosley, president of Mosley Construction explains that the building boom is being driven by industries such as insurance, high tech and stocks. The leaders emphasize that to continue this progress, the region needs to focus on the infrastructure—critical to sustain growth. And so it is that seemingly unrelated areas such as entrepreneurial support and infrastructure development are in fact all pieces of the same complicated economic development puzzle that our region is continually striving to support.  Richard C.D. Fleming President and Chief Executive Officer St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association |
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