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East St. Louis riverfront draws inspiration from Laclede's Landing
By LORRAINE SENCI

   EAST ST. LOUIS - Sen. James F. Clayborne Jr. (D-Belleville) looked across the Mississippi when he wrote legislation geared toward redeveloping the East St. Louis riverfront.

   House Bill 623 was modeled after what worked for St. Louis to successfully develop riverfront property at Laclede's Landing, St. Louis University and the Barnes-Jewish corridor, Clayborne said.

   The bill, which has been endorsed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, passed the Senate and has not yet been taken up by the House.

   "The legislation allows for the city to create a commission that the mayor appoints and the council approves," Clayborne said.

   This entity - typically referred to as a redevelopment corporation - would be a conduit for the city to develop a site based on a land-use ordinance that the city has passed, he said.

   "The city doesn't have to pay a dime for the redevelopment," Clayborne said. "It will be all incentive driven."

   And like the city of St. Louis, redevelopment is expected to extend beyond the scope of the river into the inner core of the city, sparking commercial and residential development in East St. Louis.

   Joe Behnken, former executive director of Southwestern Illinois Development Authority, who worked with the senator and the city of East St. Louis on tailoring the St. Louis model to East St. Louis, said that the legislation covers all of St. Clair County and can be used in other communities as well.

   Behnken said that the private, for-profit redevelopment corporations would be funded through investments by its shareholders, who would be people with a vested interest in the project and are accountable to the city and the community.

   "The redevelopment corporation would get a negotiated percentage based on the investment into the region. That's how redevelopers sustain themselves and generate the funds for marketing, design and architecture," he said. "It's very incentive driven - no public money goes to the redevelopment corporation."

   Through a competitive process, the city of East St. Louis would issue requests for qualifications and requests for proposals, and the redevelopment corporations would submit to the city a redevelopment plan. Four to six separate redevelopment corporations could submit proposals on different sections of the riverfront, Behnken said, and the jurisdiction for each - which could be divided into 40-acre to 200-acre sites - would be spelled out in contract between each entity and the city.

   Deborah Roush, project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the Corps entered into agreement with city of East St. Louis in June 2001 to assist in developing a master plan for the riverfront.

   "We covered the 1,000 acres of riverfront from city limits to city limits," she said.

   The Corps' planning entailed a three-phase process. The first phase included assessing the existing condition and infrastructure of the area along with the businesses, cultural and natural resources already there. The assessment also looked at possible environmental contamination. In addition, this stage included a market analysis funded by the Greater St. Louis Regional Empowerment Zone.

   The analysis reviewed what the region's needs were in terms of office space, housing and recreation. In addition, the analysis considered what the private sector could provide and what amenities to the region were lacking to meet a known need, Roush said.

   At the close of Phase I, the Corps provided three major alternative plans or uses for the 1,000 acres along the riverfront, and public meetings were held to collect input from residents and interested parties.

   In Phase II, the Corps recommended a master plan to the East St. Louis City Council, outlining the different uses for the area.

   "The city adopted the plan in the summer of 2003," she said. The Corps' suggested uses included housing, entertainment, retail and office space along with green space comprising such features as a linear park with wetland restoration and trails.

   The Corps is currently in the process of Phase III, which is "implementation," and it hopes to have the final report in the spring of 2004, Roush said. This final phase includes laying out the cost estimates for infrastructure for the entire riverfront - water, wastewater treatment, roads, etc. - to make it viable for development.

   A key element of Phase III is determining two to three lead projects - "the most promising with the highest level of success anticipated - and estimating the funding needed for those projects, the partnerships that would be necessary for them and the organization that needs to happen to make those selected projects come to fruition on the riverfront," Roush added.

   East St. Louis Mayor Carl Officer offered solid support for Clayborne. "I'm very proud of Sen. Clayborne's efforts for legislation," the mayor said. "We are anxious to do the development, not only for the city of East St. Louis, but for the entire metropolitan region."