Longtime Economic Development Expert Left his Mark on Missouri
Date Posted: May 20, 2021
Posted In: People,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A state economic development agency is seeking a new director after its longtime chief died last week.
Robert Miserez, executive director of the Missouri Development Finance Board, died Wednesday following a brief illness. He was 66.
Miserez’s fingerprints are on hundreds of projects across the state, including Ballpark Village in St. Louis, Union Station in Kansas City and private company expansions.
“Bob was a great friend to St. Louis,” said Otis Williams, executive director for the St. Louis Development Corp., which is the city’s economic development agency.
Williams credited Miserez and the finance board for helping to arrange funding for the redevelopment of the St. Louis Arch grounds, Forest Park, three major downtown parking garages, the Cortex development and the downtown convention center hotel.
“There are dozens of projects that Bob has had a hand in,” Williams said.
Last year, the board approved tax credits worth $5.7 million to help fuel construction of the $457.8 million professional soccer complex on the western edge of downtown St. Louis.
The state agency where he had worked since it was formed in 1989, helps arrange and package financing for building and infrastructure projects.
In recent months, the department had offered loans to small cities needing assistance during the pandemic.