Stapleton may be the nearest development to what Paul McKee envisions for NorthSide. But that only goes so far as there is a stark difference: clean slate airport v. historic inner city with many residents. At first glance, Stapleton looks more like (and more closely resembles in terms of development) New Town at St. Charles. For what it’s worth, the NorthSide project has several superior sites to anything in Stapleton for job creation and business location due to it’s proximity to downtown St. Louis and access afforded by I-64 and the new Mississippi River Bridge. There are other crucial difference as well that we’ll examine in the future.
But would a similar development in North St. Louis be welcome? It appears that Stapleton has been economically successful (judging by homes sold) and one of it’s biggest problems is building schools for all the children living in the new neighborhood. For a quick tour of Stapleton, watch the video below. It comes from a local realtor in the Denver area and gives something of a feel for the development.
