Extracting the Silver Bullet from St. Louis

The silver bullet analogy in development and urban planning is tired and overused. So I'll extend it: what would happen if we extracted the silver bullet from downtown St. Louis? Some things are more difficult to do than others, but more than one opportunity exists to try and do just that.

What's a "silver bullet" project? Too often, developers claim that their project, no matter how small, is going to be transformative, usher in some new era of prosperity, bring something entirely new to a location, and on and on. Often there are rosy revenue projections presented with pomp on color spreadsheets. Of course the resulting reality is rarely so rosy.

The list in St. Louis is debatable, but not short: the Gateway Mall, Arch grounds, Edward Jones Dome, Union Station retail, St. Louis Centre, Pruitt-Igoe, Mill Creek Valley demolition and renewal, Busch Stadium I and urban Interstates certainly fit the bill. What else? Perhaps the $578M Arch grounds renovation counts. To qualify it should be a large project that many, not just the developer and those giving tax breaks, view as transformational.