Chesterfield Sees Benefits to 'In-House' Economic Agency

The recent merger of the St. Louis city and county economic development agencies had the metro area talking last week, but what does it mean for Chesterfield residents?

The answer: surprisingly little. Chesterfield, along with Hazelwood and Clayton, is one of the few cities in the county that has its own “in-house” development agency.

The person at the helm is Libbey Tucker, the city’s , who told Patch that she and City Manager Michael Herring had written St. Louis County Councilman Quinn in support of the merger.

“It’s a positive thing,” she said. “Having a larger team to work on projects will definitely benefit the region.”

However, she said it’s important for Chesterfield to maintain its autonomy.

“We are large enough that we get lots of inquiries from developers, real estate people and small business people,” she said. “It’s my job to help them in finding a location, but also to help coordinate financing.”

Historically, this hasn’t always been the case. When the city was first established 25 years ago, there was a separate, non-profit entity called the Chesterfield Community Development Corporation.

Although Tucker said it did a lot of good work post-flood in 1993, in 2006, the city felt that “they didn’t like the direction the group was going” and formally folded it into its own organizational structure.

Still, she said cooperation among all of the various agencies is key to luring big projects. As an example, she pointed to the decision by Fortune 500 company Reinsurance Group of America to locate their new headquarters in Chesterfield.

“We had the state economic development agency, we utilized MoDOT, we utilized the St. Louis County Economic Council and the county’s highways and traffic department,” she said. “All those entities had to come together to make that project work.”