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THE
ST. LOUIS REGION AND ITS COMPANIES MAKE THE NATIONAL NEWS
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TODAY
SHOW INTERVIEWS HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S ARCHIBALD
MHS
President Robert R. Archibald (left) following
his appearance on the Today show (left to
right): Mrs. Sue Archibald, Today show
host Katie Couric, Mrs. Patti Withers and MHS Chairman
of the Board of Trustees W. Wayne Withers.
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For insight into the Missouri Historical Society’s upcoming
“Lewis & Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition,” Dr. Robert
Archibald, president and CEO of the Society, made an appearance
on NBC’s Today in August. On the show, Dr. Archibald discussed
the significance of the Lewis and Clark expedition and how the story
would be told in the exhibits.
Among the items to be displayed are William Clark’s Elkskin Journal
(1805—the only surviving field journal from the expedition); President
Thomas Jefferson’s 1803 Letter of Credit authorizing Meriwether
Lewis to charge expedition expenses to the federal government, stating
no limits; Meriwether Lewis’ Telescope and Pocket Watch; along with
a number of other items and letters.
Sponsored by Emerson, the national exhibition opens in St. Louis
in January 2004 and will travel to Philadelphia, Denver, Portland
and Washington D.C. through 2006.
NATIONAL RANKING AFFIRMS ST. LOUIS REGION’S
BIOBELT STRATEGY
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Cutting-edge
research is on-going at Washington University.
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St. Louis has “the right stuff,” according to the Santa Monica-based
Milken Institute, a prominent, independent economics think tank.
In the Institute’s recently released national study, St. Louis ranks
high as a national center for life sciences—ahead of such biotech
hotspots as San Diego, Seattle and San Francisco. Pointing to the
region’s assets in the health care industry with cutting-edge research
and development at Washington University and Saint Louis University
medical campuses, the study sees enormous potential to generate
new life sciences companies.
This affirms the St. Louis region, known as the BioBelt, is on the
right track in pursuing its strategy to grow and nurture its plant
and life sciences industry cluster. In addition to the health care
research, the area has additional support from the Danforth Foundation’s
pledge of $124 million as well as the presence of established companies
such as Monsanto, Pfizer, Sigma-Aldrich, Solae, Tyco/Healthcare/
Mallinckrodt and Wyeth BioPharma, creating a fertile climate for
the life sciences.
ST. LOUIS REGION CONTRACTORS NATIONALLY
RANKED
For the first time, McCarthy Building Companies Inc. is listed in
the top 100 of Engineering News Record’s (ENR) “Top Global
Contractors” list. The publication ranks companies by their total
2002 construction contracting revenue, both at home and abroad.
This differs from ENR’s “Top International Contractors” list,
which ranks firms based only on revenue from projects outside of
their home countries.
Other St. Louis region contractors on the list of 225 contractors
include: Alberici Corp at #108 and Clayco Construction Co. at #164.
NATIONAL PUBLICATIONS FEATURE OPENING OF
CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM ST. LOUIS
The New York Times, Newsweek, Travel + Leisure,
WWDMonday and other national publications noted the opening
of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis in recent issues. The publications
go on to tout the museum’s location in “the city’s thriving Grand
Center cultural district.”
The two-day opening celebration of the facility kicked-off with
a fund-raising event September 19, hosted by Al Roker of NBC’s “Today”
show and Deborah Roberts of ABC News. The public opening included
tours, a free concert and block party.
“A Fiction of Authenticity: Contemporary Africa Abroad,” the museum’s
inaugural exhibition, includes the works of 11 emerging African
artists now living off the continent. The show, which continues
through January 3, 2004, examines the costs and rewards of exile.
Designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture in Portland,
Ore., the new building nearly quadruples the museum’s previous space
when it was known as the Forum for Contemporary Art. The museum
now has three galleries, performance space, media lab, and café,
all “housed behind cool concrete walls wrapped in a stainless steel
mesh.” Also, it shares a terraced courtyard with the Pulitzer Foundation
for the Arts, which just opened two years ago.
WASHINGTON POST'S JOEL KOTKIN FINDS
AMERICANS MOVING TO THE HEARTLAND
JOEL KOTKIN
business consultant and author, The
New Geography |
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The September 7 issue of the Washington Post carried a fascinating
feature story by Joel Kotkin titled, “Bye-Bye, Big Apple. Omaha
and Orlando are Jumping Now.” The article examines the changing
role of global cities (such as New York, London, Chicago, San Francisco,
and Tokyo), and the re-emergence of more “scalable communities,”
including St. Louis.
Kotkin, who, in addition to being a consultant and a professor at
Pepperdine University in California, is a frequent contributor to
the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington
Post. He is currently underway with a major research effort
here in St. Louis for the RCGA on regional talent attraction and
retention. In fact, his Sunday Washington Post article draws
on some of that research: “a surprising development has been the
gradual slowing, and even reversal, of flight from the Midwest,
which was a virtual torrent several decades ago. Today more Americans
are moving into cities in the heartland [including St. Louis] and
they are also attracting a growing proportion of the nation’s [domestic]
immigrants.”
He goes on to note some of his preliminary findings from the St.
Louis Talent Project, “Behind this shift are basic human imperatives.
Extensive interviews with young professionals, corporate executives,
human resource workers, post-graduate students and recent immigrants
reveal that many are willing to exchange the bright lights of the
global centers for affordable housing, a sense of community and
economic opportunity.” He then quotes a member of the St. Louis
Work Group, “It has gotten very easy to get workers to relocate
here, notes Randy Schilling, founder and CEO of Quilogy, a St. Louis-area
technology company. You get a guy here from Chicago, New York, and
San Francisco, and even if he gets a pay cut, he and his family
live better.”
Kotkin’s St. Louis report for the RCGA and the Greater St. Louis
Economic Development Council is due later this year. |
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