Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
From left: Jorge Riopedre and Maxine Clark
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Maxine Clark is sitting in a conference room in her newly opened Delmar Divine, a hub for nonprofits located in the former St. Luke’s Hospital on Delmar Boulevard, and everything is starting to feel real. By this time next year, there will be 1,000 people living and working here. Together with executive director Jorge Riopedre, she’s just completed a tour of the building, pointing out the rooms that will transform into a coworking space, café, gym, and—because it’s the modern era—podcast studio.
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
Clark, the founder of Build-A-Bear, has been working on this project for six years, and nonprofit tenants are finally moving in. When it’s all said and done, there will be 23 in the space. Her hope is that nonprofits that relocate to the renovated building will be able to share ideas—maybe at the very table Clark is sitting at—and begin to solve some of the region’s most urgent issues. This approach feels refreshing: At a time when the pandemic has forced some workers into isolation, Clark is banking on location. (“If money could do it, we would have solved these problems a long time ago,” she points out.)
But Clark’s vision also includes adding to the neighborhood beyond office space. The Delmar Divine is situated on the border that has historically divided the city by race and income, so she’s including 150 apartments geared toward those working in social services. Priced so that rent doesn’t exceed 30 percent of average salaries, the apartments are expected to open this spring. There will also be retail space and a yet-to-be-named restaurant, which is slated to open in the fall. And even though the bzzz of drills still echoes throughout the hallways as construction continues, Clark is already dreaming of Phase II.
The Delmar Divine started with a wrong turn. While driving around the West End neighborhood, where she opened a KIPP school, Clark took a right instead of a left. She drove past the building that once housed a St. Luke’s Hospital and then a ConnectCare. It had closed in 2014, and there was a For Sale sign outside the building. From her work through Build-A-Bear, Clark was familiar with St. Louis’ robust nonprofit ecosystem. According to research from the St. Louis Regional Data Alliance, in 2017, there were 14,883 registered nonprofits in the St. Louis region. But Clark also knew that there were cases where nonprofits didn’t know that other organizations were doing the same type of work. “Everybody’s doing hard work,” she says. “But can it be more helpful? Can it be more impactful?” She saw an opportunity for a Cortex-like ecosystem where a social-services innovator with a question could simply walk down the hall, knock on a door, and brainstorm with someone else who might have the answer.
Looking ahead, Clark has some dreams for the second phase of the Delmar Divine: She wants to turn the former St. Luke’s Nursing School into a campus for early-childhood providers. She cautions that it’s complicated—the dorms would need to be renovated; she’s not sure how providers would be able to afford the rent; and if there’s a demand for more office space, that might have to be the priority. But she thinks it’s worth a shot. Clark envisions a floor dedicated to infants, one to children with special needs, and so on. “We started [public] kindergarten in St. Louis,” she says. “What if we could figure out how to do early-childhood education the right way?”
It’s challenges like these that could begin to be tackled at the Delmar Divine.
Timely Rx
For many of us, the pandemic brought to light inequities that exist in accessing health care. For Dr. Marcus Howard, the pandemic confirmed his belief that St. Louis needs a culturally competent Black pharmacy. One of the retail spaces in the Delmar Divine will be just that: Howard’s GreaterHealth Pharmacy & Wellness. The pharmacy will feature a clinic to provide care (such as screenings and immunizations) and behavioral health education (on diabetes, drug use, weight loss, high blood pressure, and more). But Howard is most excited about developing a model where the pharmacy is doing more than providing care—it’s also working to understand the community in ways that can lead to positive health outcomes. “With certain communities, there are reasons why people don’t take medicine,” he explains. “There are reasons why people stop taking medicine. There are certain reasons why they can’t get to medicine.” Understanding these reasons helps providers with outreach and caring for these populations. To put together this model, Howard’s team is gathering demographic data and will take that information to create cues that help them communicate with people about their health. “Those cues are research proven to lead to positive health-related action,” Howard says.
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