The head of a developer with strong St. Louis ties is hoping his commitment to the Loop Trolley will help lift a cloud that has been hanging over the project.
ClayCo Chief Executive Officer Bob Clark says his company decided to make a $750,000 commitment after sensing the initiative was getting a "toxic" reputation.
"It's indicative of a place that is kind of stuck. All of this negativity all of a sudden becomes reality if somebody doesn't do something about it. So, I felt very strongly that it can be exciting," Clark said. "It can be a winning thing."
Clark says ClayCo and its St. Louis-based real estate firm CRG are putting up a $500,000 grant that he is confident will be matched by other corporate leaders in the region.
"We gotta get the cars going. We have a third car that we are going to get running in the spring also as a backup," Clark told St. Louis Public Radio on Friday. "We've got some people we have to hire. We've got some training that we have to do. And so this funding was a giant gap that was preventing some critical steps from taking place."
ClayCo is also providing some development expertise to help the trolley start operating in the spring between the Delmar Loop and Missouri History Museum in Forest Park.
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