Departing SLDC head Otis Williams says St. Louis should focus on developing downtown and north city 67%
By Kavahn Mansouri59%
3/30/2026, 10:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 22 faulty reasoning types, including Ambiguity (Equivocation), Recency Bias, and Halo Effect, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 21.7% saturation with 161 hits. Analysis detected 1,151 faulty-reasoning hits from 741 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 60.7% and a BS Rank of 67% (7,254 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 66.90% of the article peer group.
Last May, when the St.
Louis Development Corporation called upon Otis Williams, its former president and CEO, to step back into the role on an interim basis, Williams said he hoped to make developing in St.
Louis a more “predictable process.”
A year later, he believes the city has taken big steps toward doing just that.
“The challenges are ensuring that a developer can get a fair return on investment, and that the challenges of getting projects approved if there are incentives involved is more predictable,” Williams said.
“I can't tell you that it's all fixed.”
Williams stepped into the role after former SLDC head Neal Richardson departed not long after Mayor Cara Spencer’s inauguration.
Williams held the job from 2013 to 2021, when he retired.
In 22 years with the agency, he played a part in developing many of St.
Louis’ iconic landmarks, including the newly opened National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency campus in north St.
Louis, Ballpark Village and Busch Stadium.
Still, he said there’s more to do.
He pointed toward downtown St.
Louis and north St.
Louis, specifically the areas impacted by the May 16, 2025, EF3 tornado, as places where the city needs to spur new development.
SLDC announced the hiring of incoming President and CEO Stephen Westbrooks earlier this month.
Williams’ last day as interim head of the agency was Friday.
Williams spoke recently with St.
Louis Public Radio economic development reporter Kavahn Mansouri about his tenure.
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Kavahn Mansouri: Otis, looking back at this latest tenure at SLDC, what sticks out to you as the highlights?
Otis Williams: A great day during this tenure was actually the opening of the NGA, and I, when I retired in ‘21, I didn't think that I'd be around this to participate in the opening of that facility, you know, having spent so much time trying to get it on underway, and so I think just attending that event was really satisfying.
But the fact that Cortex continues to do their thing.
The Kempton hotel will be coming.
The project is finally through the, almost through the legislative process.
And so I think projects like that will be a signature.
Mansouri: And you've been part of some major landmarks in St Louis, like Busch Stadium, the NGA campus, as you mentioned, and more.
How does it feel to have had that part in St Louis' economic landscape?
Williams: It was all about working with a lot of good people.
You know, obviously the developer and the builders who made it all happen, but also just a number of political and staff members who just came through and made it all happen.
And so those are all, when I see them all, I do have warm feelings about it, as those are things that will be around for a while.
I really like what those things mean, but I would really, really like to see something very significant happen along the corridors of MLK, Page and Natural Bridge, if we can cause something very significant to happen there, I think that would be even greater than any of those signature projects that you talked about.
Mansouri: When you were appointed to this position, you said you wanted to stay the ship and make development more predictable in St Louis.
Can you talk about that?
And where do you hope the city can go with that foundation?
Williams: The good thing is, I think that the stars are beginning to align, and so working with all of the departments in the city and with the aldermen and the mayor's office, just being able to facilitate and welcome redevelopment and work with the developers who have a desire to work here in the city.
And I think a home run is having work done all over the city, but there needs to be a real focus on what happens downtown, because it is really the signature and face of not only the city, but of the region.
And so when I say that, I don't mean that we should not do and have a focus on north St Louis or the recovery area or south St Louis.
I just mean that there is a need to have an intentional view of our downtown, because that is our signature location.
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86%flagged-word coverageOtis Williams
470 attributed words79% of attributed speech62% writer coverage
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