Photography by Matt Marcinkowski
Brooks Goedeker is executive director of Park Central Development, a nonprofit that promotes development in the city’s 17th Ward. Park Central’s target area covers parts of the Central West End, midtown, and Forest Park Southeast, including The Grove, where the nonprofit is collaborating with the Equal Housing Opportunity Council to keep the area mixed-income. On October 3, the neighborhood hosts the 10th annual Grove Fest. Last year, 25,000 people attended; this year, Goedeker expects an even larger crowd.
What was your first impression of The Grove?
I drove down Manchester for the first time in my life in 2002. I was shocked by what I saw. There were only six businesses in operation that had front doors… It almost seemed like a ghost town, like a Wild West city that had been abandoned, with tumbleweeds rolling down the street. You could see there was a main street here, and it could come back to life—but man, I didn’t know if it ever would. Now, it’s gone from six businesses to about 75.
How has your approach changed over time?
In the beginning, Wash. U. said they’d do a bunch of social and community service programs to help… What they found out fairly quickly was that people said, “Great! Thanks for the help getting this job and the GED. Now I’m getting the hell out of this neighborhood.” We ended up saying, “We have to have a wrap-around approach—a holistic approach. We can’t just do social and community services; we have to do housing, safety, public infrastructure, beautification, and economic development if we want Manchester to come back.”
Is it vital to have Washington University and its medical complex behind this?
It is. But we definitely have set up lessons where we go to other neighborhoods and say, "This would not have happened as quickly as it has in The Grove without Wash. U. behind it. However, every neighborhood can do some of these things without a Wash. U. behind it." We preach "small wins" for neighborhoods. We know, by talking to developers, businesses, and residents looking to move into an area that they want to see that somebody is there taking care of things, that there are a certain level of services and amenities that ultimately protect their investment.
How do you balance between bars and other businesses and residents?
When you look at the path that Washington Avenue, the [Delmar] Loop, and other districts take, it’s bars and restaurants that come in first; then you see more daytime operations. We have the most 3 a.m. establishments of anywhere in the city. That’s fine, but that is only going to take you so far. You need a diversity of businesses and to not piss off the residents… We are now dedicated to lunchtime businesses for all the offices and workforce here. More retail is coming in. That’s why we do a lot of special events—it gets so many people here during the daytime.
Events like Grove Fest?
It’s our premier event. It showcases the diversity of the neighborhood… We have an Afghan restaurant, a Lebanese restaurant, Nepalese, Sweetie Pie’s, other African-American businesses, and the LGBT community. It’s a diverse street, and we want to be welcoming to everyone.
How vital has the LGBT community been in developing The Grove?
That was definitely a strong piece of what happened in The Grove, and The Grove has embraced that, which is great... What makes me nervous is how sometimes gay clubs have gone from this district to this district to that district—like, where is their home? We would love for this to be their continued home. What makes me a little nervous is that most of [the LGBT-focused business owners] don’t own their property; they’re leasing.
So they wouldn’t be driven out by prejudice. It would be profit?
That’s what happened in the Central West End.
Tell me about the neon signs in The Grove.
We did it during the heart of the recession. People mostly said, “Why are you putting up a $70,000 sign when you have all these empty storefronts?” We wanted to make sure that when the recession lifted, people understood The Grove is here to stay.
