No Takers on SLDC’s Goodfellow RFP 16 Months After Rejecting Bob Clark’s Proposal
Date Posted: February 27, 2025
Posted In: Projects, Regionalism,
From St. Louis Business Journal: More than a year after rejecting a plan from Clayco founder Bob Clark, the St. Louis Development Corp. has still not received a proposal that would bring its desired retail to a long-vacant former manufacturing site in north St. Louis.
The request for proposals (RPF) for the 16.45-acre site at 4800 Goodfellow Road opened in October of 2023, with a suggestion that a “retail-anchored, multiple-use development” would be most appropriate given the site’s visibility, size and accessibility.
Now 16 months later, the RFP remains open, with the scope expanded to two adjacent parcels of land, 4690 and 4700 Goodfellow Road, last August. The RFP was taken down briefly but reposted in December 2024 while SLDC was working to remediate environmental contamination and demolish buildings on the 4700 property.
SLDC declined to comment on how many responses the RFP has yielded since it opened.
Clark responded to the request in January 2024 with a bid to relocate the headquarters and manufacturing operations of Clayco subsidiary Concreate Strategies to the Goodfellow site. At the time, Clark claimed he was told that he was the only response to the RFP at the time. His proposal was denied, with SLDC head Neal Richardson citing concerns that the proposal lacked community engagement and didn’t have an adequate retail component.