“Oh well, I guess it’s all part of the job.”
Neal Richardson, chair, president & CEO of the St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) was trying to be diplomatic, but his frustration was palpable.
His agency is under harsh media scrutiny as former SLDC board member, Alderwoman Cara Spencer (8th ward) is running for mayor.
Richardson, who was nominated for his position in 2021 by Mayor Tishaura Jones, feels SLDC has been unfairly placed in the middle of a political contest that may ultimately result in his firing and/or the restructuring of SLDC.
Late last year, Spencer resigned from SLDC’s board. She launched accusations of internal dysfunction and lack of transparency while questioning how the agency doles out public funds and tax incentives.
She said SLDC’s board ignored her complaints, and cited Richardson’s dual role as chair and president as a conflict of interest.
Richardson, who thought he had a good relationship with Spencer, was taken aback. The role of CEO and president has been utilized by other administrations, he said, adding that anyone who has reviewed public board meeting minutes knows that Spencer’s concerns were addressed. There was nothing clandestine about how the agency operated, he insisted.
Spencer certainly had no qualms with SLDC in 2023, Richardson said, when it helped draft eminent domain legislation that she sponsored to advance development of the Railway Exchange building.
Nor were there any complaints in 2024, when SLDC helped get a 20-year tax abatement to aid in the redevelopment of the Millennium Hotel.
Both projects are in the downtown part of Spencer’s Ward.
Spencer’s criticism of SLDC, Richardson said, began after she announced her candidacy for mayor and SLDC began administering funds from a $37 million federal grant program aimed at business development in North St. Louis.
“People pick and choose what they want to use for their political platforms, and that’s what happened here,” said Alderwoman Shameem Clark-Hubbard (10th Ward) an SLDC board member.
Alderman Rasheen Aldridge (14th Ward) had a similar recollection.
“I remember when the northside grants first rolled out and how (Spencer) became very critical but so were other aldermen, including myself. We all wanted to see the project happen, but it’s been her only pushback with SLDC.”
A month prior to Spencer’s resignation, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a series of articles on SLDC. Stories noted how “tens of millions of dollars in federal grant funds” were awarded to businesses with addresses attached to vacant lots and how well-funded nonprofits like the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and politically connected families, including relatives of Clark Hubbard, were given preference.
There was an omission in the newspaper’s coverage. The fraudulent or suspicious businesses and individuals they listed were only “conditionally” approved meaning no money was to be allocated until a vetting process was completed.
“Based on the information provided at the time,” Richardson explained, “we conditionally approved about 335 businesses for a total of about $33 million. The word “conditional” was repeatedly stressed because we still had to go through the vetting and negotiations processes to make sure those applicants could meet all guidelines.”
If the newspaper had reviewed SLDC’s August 22, 2024, board minutes perhaps it would have noticed that all grant awards were “contingent upon a “viability assessment.”
Lorna Alexander, SLDC’s vice president of programmatic compliance, explained the assessment process.
“On paper, you look great, right? You look viable but, until we actually go out there, our partners go out there, and then we get reports from the collector of revenue and the license collector, we can’t say ‘you’ve been awarded,”’ she said.
Clark-Hubbard was incensed by the Post’s insinuation that her family members received preference over other applicants. She said the newspaper knew she had immediately recused herself from voting on applications submitted by her father-in-law, an employee of his and a distant niece.
The viability assessments have now been completed, Richardson said, adding that roughly 50 businesses-many which were highlighted in the Post, including those associated with Clark Hubbard-have been deemed ‘not viable.’
The “conditionally approved” money, Richardson added, has been “reallocated to other projects on the list that have been deemed viable.”
Spencer, who publicly called Jones and the agency “corrupt,” amended her denunciation during our interview last week, now referring to their actions as “mismanaged.” But she’s still running political ads asking voters if they’re “tired of four years of corruption” under Jones.
Likewise, the Post is stubbornly sticking to its narrative. In its endorsement of Spencer, the editorial board claimed she “sounded the alarm about the city’s “fumbling, corrupt handling of a $37 million grant program… that was Jones’ brainchild.”
Following the money
Spencer’s campaign has raised more than $1 million dollars in total contributions, according to finance reports filed on Monday. A Brighter Future for St Louis PAC, which supports her, raised another $580,000.
Her largest donors are developers including influential Clayco founder Bob Clark, whose companies donated more than $130,000 to Spencer. This doesn’t include another $50,000 from a Clayco affiliated firm or donations to Spencer or her PAC.
She has also received campaign contributions from developers including the Lamar Johnson Collaborative, an architecture firm that works with Clayco and Brinkmann Construction, Grewe Brokerage & Development and ARCO Construction.
Spencer claims that her developer donors are simply “serious business folk who want to see the city succeed.”
Clark, for instance, has serious problems with Jones and Richardson. He blames the two for SLDC’s decision to reject his proposal to build a 200,000-square-foot concrete manufacturing warehouse on the site of the former St. Louis Army Ammunition Plant on Goodfellow Blvd. near Hwy 70.
Incensed, Clark told the press that he donated the exact amount he’d spent on his business proposal-more than $111,000-to Spencer’s campaign.
In explaining the rejection of Clark’s proposal, Richardson and Jones cited what they said were residents’ wishes for the site.
“We asked for retail, not a cement plant,” Jones said.
“Since he doesn’t like being told no, he’s throwing a temper tantrum.”
In an interview with KSDK in January, Clark noted the trouble with Paul McKee’s North Side Regeneration project near the $1.7 billion National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) on Jefferson and Cass Avenues.
Regarding Mckee’s battles with the city, Clark described Richardson as someone “working in a failed administration,” adding that he lacks the experience “to move projects forward.”
Spencer has publicly alleged that she will fire Richardson if she’s elected.
Aldridge disagrees with both Clark and Spencer.
“I feel bad for Neal because he’s looked at as a ‘Tishaura appointee.’ But he’s honestly been working on behalf of the city and has done a fantastic job.”
Aldridge admits he’s the one actively trying to remove McKee’s imprint from any development surrounding the NGA site. Early last year, he sponsored a bill granting the city eminent domain rights over the area where McKee owns property. The blight redevelopment bill will impact more than 800 acres in the St. Louis Place, JeffVanderLou and Carr Square neighborhoods.
The legislation passed and, in March, the St. Louis Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority (LCRA), the public/private real estate arm of SLDC, took steps to seize more than 100 properties owned by Paul McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration.
Some developers fear the loss of properties now under eminent domain, Aldrige said. “A lot of those properties are McKee’s, who has not done the necessary work to move the northside forward. I would say there’s an uncertainty with what’s going to happen or if she (Spencer) becomes mayor, will she keep Neal on or not.”
Clark’s company, Clayco, has partnered with Northside on projects including a Bottle District transaction that netted them millions in tax credits. According to a March 2025 article by the Post Dispatch, the FBI investigated the tax credit deals, one of which involved a company partially owned by Steve Stone, Northside’s longtime attorney, who helped write the distressed area state tax credit legislation.
McKee’s name hasn’t appeared in Spencer’s campaign finance reports but, along with Clark, there’s Stone, McKee business partner, Larry Chapman, and McKee’s lender, the Bank of Washington who launched a lawsuit against LCRA in 2018. The bank was then represented by McKee’s lawyers, Stone, Leyton & Gershman.
So, why are so many developers-some associated with Mckee’s property near the NGA site-investing in Spencer’s campaign?
“To be honest, I’m trying to figure it out, too,” Aldridge confessed.
“I know Tishaura has been very intentional…she wants to make sure developers meet certain criteria before they get tax abatements like if they’re building in economically distressed neighborhoods. Maybe some of that has turned some developers off.
“Maybe they’ve seen that Cara has been critical of SLDC and think they may have a better footing with someone who may not have the same requirements when it comes to making things…not equal but more equitable. But to be honest, maybe some just feel more comfortable working with a white woman instead of a Black woman.”
Aldrige said he respects Spencer, but she won’t get his vote.
“Crime is down. The Northside corridor grant program didn’t go perfectly but the intentionality in using those funds in North St. Louis is well-intentioned,” he said.
“The mayor is trying to do a lot to change the city and make it more equitable, which can’t happen in just four years. So, I’ll be supporting Tishaura Jones for mayor.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.