St. Louis is changing; that much is clear. At our 2026 Commercial Summit, professionals across the commercial real estate and economic development industries came together to examine the forces shaping the region’s future. Across the panels, one thing emerged: St. Louis is at an inflection point for growth. Primary discussion points presented during the panels included Infrastructure investment, collaborative economic development, and public safety perceptions, all aimed at achieving visible change.
The day opened with a candid conversation on crime and perception featuring St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Melissa Price Smith and St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Tracy. By the numbers, violent crime is down, especially in St. Louis City. You wouldn’t always know it from headlines, but the data is there. Still, both speakers acknowledged that perception hasn’t kept pace with reality. Despite measurable progress, residents and investors remain cautious.
Their approach is both regional and relationship-driven:
- Treating crime as a shared issue across city and county lines.
- Making real-time charging decisions for violent offenses.
- Prioritizing community presence and engagement, not just reporting statistics.
In short, public safety is improving, but rebuilding confidence is the next step.
Following the discussion on public safety, Heather Coil, the senior manager of state policy and partnerships with the Data Center Coalition, spoke about digital infrastructure as a large part of the future in the next stage of growth.
Consumers and businesses will generate twice as much data in the next five years as in the last ten. This data isn’t stored in an abstract cloud either. It’s housed in data centers that are rapidly being built to keep up with the demand.
Where that investment lands depends on a few key factors:
- Access to power, especially clean energy;
- Reliable, ready-to-use sites;
- And/or a predictable, supportive policy environment.
Missouri is competitive, but neighboring Illinois has an edge with more established infrastructure and easier access to clean energy. For St. Louis to compete, available land and grid capacity need to be paired with intentional, consistent policy.
The economic development panel zoomed out to the regional picture. Stephen Westbrooks, president and CEO of the St. Louis Development Corporation, highlighted the scale of the city’s untapped potential: 24,000 vacant parcels. At the same time, industrial users are actively looking for 50–150-acre sites, something the region often struggles to provide.
Kylie Garretson of Greater St. Louis Inc. noted how much site selection has shifted. A decade ago, companies chose a site first and built the workforce around it. Today, the workforce and supply chains are driving decisions, and companies are more willing to invest in making a site work.
To stay competitive, that means:
- Assembling and remediating vacant and brownfield properties.
- Completing pre-development work so sites are truly shovel-ready.
- Ensuring available sites are visible to decision-makers.
Jason Archer of the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership pointed to the collaboration behind Boeing’s $1.8 billion expansion in North St. Louis County as proof of what’s possible and a model to build on. Jason also called out the importance for commercial brokers to enter their properties into commercial real estate data platforms. 
The second half of the day focused on taxes, policy, and financing, and how all three are shaping what gets built. Keynote speaker Evan Liddiard, the director of tax policy for the National Association of REALTORS®, connected federal legislation, such as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, directly to on-the-ground deal-making. The 20% Qualified Business Income deduction remains critical for real estate professionals, and efforts to extend it have helped maintain some stability. Opportunity Zones continue to evolve, bringing both new opportunities and added complexity, while ongoing questions about the state and local tax (SALT) cap and the broader tax structure continue to influence long-term planning.
At the same time, the deal environment remains challenging. Higher interest rates, rising construction costs, and tighter lending standards are all factors. Projects are still moving forward, but only when the fundamentals are strong:
- Experienced sponsors and teams;
- Well-positioned projects in the right submarkets;
- And capital structures that can handle higher costs and longer timelines.
That uncertainty carries into Missouri’s broader tax conversation. Proposals to eliminate the state income tax and expand sales taxes could have wide-reaching implications. Missouri REALTORS® continue to oppose efforts to tax services like real estate commissions, citing the potential impact on transactions and affordability.
Locally, policy decisions are just as influential:
- Ongoing efforts to advance land bank legislation at the state level, particularly for North St. Louis County.
- Addressing vacancy and bringing underutilized properties back into productive use.
- Protecting incentives that help projects remain financially viable.
- Supporting the St. Louis County use tax that will be on the August ballot, which is critical to level the playing field between brick-and-mortar retail and online sellers, in addition to funding local governments.
At the end of the summit, it was clear that there is a real opportunity here in our region. St. Louis has the land, the demand, and the momentum. Turning that into real progress will come down to alignment, ensuring policy, capital, and collaboration are all moving in the same direction.
View photos from the summit and stay tuned for more Commercial Events!