Who is McCormack Baron Salazar?
Date Posted: May 20, 2025
Posted In: Organizations, People,
From The Telegraph: McCormack Baron Salazar (MBS), a development company based in St. Louis, has a large impact in the Metro-East area.
Its first project in the Metro-East was in St. Louis, converting the Washington Hotel, originally built in 1903, to Washington Apartments, which still stand. This project started in 1979 under the Section 8 program and contains 99 one-bedroom apartments.
In the book “McCormack Baron 1973-2023: A Legacy of Community Partnership, Housing Innovation, and Reinvestment in America’s Urban Neighborhoods,” MBS Chairman and CEO Richard Baron described him and his business partner, Terry McCormack, having difficulty getting another $300,000 to cover construction costs. The duo ended up going to the city for help, and the city agreed to use Community Development Block Grant funds to assist in development.
In 2007, the apartments, located at 600 N. Kingshighway, received a second renovation. According to a 2007 article by The St. Louis American, the first floor of the apartments was gutted and replaced with a fitness center, an expanded laundry room, a community room, and an AARP satellite office.
“I’m particularly proud this morning because this was our first project literally 30 years ago,” Baron said in the article.
Since then, MBS has developed 31 projects in St. Louis. Now, in 2025, MBS wants to bring development to Alton in the form of The Lovejoy.