Special to the American
Habitat for Neighborhood Business and Saint Louis University will break ground on their first free-standing retail and service center at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 13.
Located at the corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Whitter Avenue in the historic Ville neighborhood, the site is part of an effort to develop urban retail and service business centers that are designed to spark economic development and job growth in urban neighborhoods, increase the number of business role models within the community, stabilize neighborhood economies, and bring business ownership back to the local community.
Kevin Schulte, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, said the Habitat for Neighborhood Business vision has come a long way since the first meeting with Habitat board chair, Doug Brown, a retired executive from Enterprise Rent-a-Car Company, and Ellen Harshman, dean of the John Cook School of Business at SLU.
“We are thrilled that the months of collaboration with our advisors and the community has come together,” Schulte said.
Leadership of the Habitat for Neighborhood Business includes a board of directors and three advisors, who bring years of corporate experience and innovation to the project:
• Terry Donohue, president (Executive-in-Residence, John Cook School of Business)
• Steve Barron, vice-president (President, Phillip H. Barron Realty)
• Kevin A. Schulte, member (Director, Smurfit-Stone Center for Entrepreneurship)
• Rick Sullivan, member (CEO, McBride & Son Homes)
• Linda Wash, member (Linda Wash Realty)
• Lynette Sledge Watson, member (Business Development Manager, University of Missouri Extension Small Business Development Centers-St. Charles County Centers)
• Rick Jordan, advisor (Retired President, Paric Construction)
• Tom Stern, advisor (President, Solon Gershman Inc.)
• Jerome Pratter, advisor (Partner, The Stolar Partnership)
The project team for Habitat for Neighborhood Business includes Glantz and Associates Architects, Inc., general contractor Interface Construction Corporation and financing provided by Montgomery Bank
Business, community and religious leaders will join 4th Ward Alderman Sam Moore and members of Habitat for Neighborhood Business and the Smurfit-Stone Center for Entrepreneurship at the SLU’s John Cook School of Business, to kick off the new project on March 13. Members of the Sumner High School Marching Band and ROTC will participate in the ceremony.
Organized in 2006, Habitat is a volunteer 501(c)3 organization that develops retail and service business centers in economically distressed neighborhoods. The initial focus is African-American communities in North St. Louis City, where residents must leave their neighborhoods to shop for basic needs and services as well as spend discretionary dollars. Habitat extends opportunities to residents of targeted neighborhoods to be trained and mentored for their own business and provide economic incentives to start a business in their own community. Visit www.habitatforneighborhoodbusiness.org or call (314) 977-2538 for additional information.
The goal of the Smurfit-Stone Center for Entrepreneurship at SLU’s John Cook School of business is to assist in building a region of entrepreneurs. The center provides and supports a variety of programs for current and prospective entrepreneurs at Saint Louis University, as well as throughout the region, the nation and the world. For more information, visit www.ecenter.slu.edu or e-mail ecenter@slu.edu.