The Arch City Report

Habitat for Humanity St. Louis is breaking ground on a 40-home development in the Vandeventer neighborhood — one of the largest housing projects North St. Louis has seen in decades. Host Erik talks with CEO Kimberly McKinney about how the $17 million, tax-credit-backed project came together, how the May 2025 tornado accelerated the need, and what it takes to turn vacant city land into an affordable, thriving neighborhood.

Supporting sponsors: Maryville University and Cass Commercial Bank.

SHOW LINKS:

St. Louis nonprofit breaks ground on affordable housing project backed by $17M in tax credits

St. Louis development agency taps unique financing tool for 40-home development

Gateway Regional Medical Center in Granite City has stood for over 120 years, but its 600+ employees recently missed a paycheck. Business Journal reporter Nathan Rubbelke joins Erik to unpack how the hospital's Los Angeles-based owner, American Healthcare Systems, fell behind on payroll, racked up over $2.6 million in delinquent property taxes, and lost hospital properties at a tax sale — all while its co-founders are locked in a bitter legal battle accusing each other of misappropriating funds, including a mysterious $4.5 million in state supplemental funding. The conversation traces Gateway's journey from a nun-run Catholic hospital to a bankruptcy sale to AHS ownership, and explores the broader financial squeeze facing safety-net hospitals serving low-income, Medicaid-dependent communities across the country.

Show Links:

Gateway Regional Medical Center faces tax sales and legal rift as owner provides $1M loan

Where Will You Watch the Blues This Season? Inside the Collapse of Regional Sports Networks

As regional sports networks collapse nationwide, professional sports teams are scrambling to reinvent how fans watch their games. In this episode of Arch City Report, business journal reporter Nathan Rubbelke joins host Erik Siemers to break down how the St. Louis Blues are overhauling both the production and distribution of their broadcasts for the upcoming NHL season — including a new partnership with the NHL's in-house production arm, an expanded slate of over-the-air games, and the search for a new cable and streaming partner.

Then, Patrick Rishe, director of the sports business program at Washington University's Olin School of Business, joins to unpack the bigger financial picture: why local media revenue is so hard to replace, how private equity is reshaping team ownership, and why some markets — and some owners — may be better positioned than others to weather the shift.

Topics covered:

• Why FanDuel Sports Network Midwest's collapse is forcing the Blues to rethink their entire broadcast strategy
• How NHL-produced broadcasts will change what fans see on screen
• The trade-offs between free over-the-air TV, streaming, and pay cable
• Why regional sports revenue can be nearly impossible to fully replace
• The rise of private equity investment in professional sports
• How state income tax policy may be influencing player free agency decisions
• Mixed-use sports districts as a new year-round revenue strategy

Read more of this reporting at www.bizjournals.com/stlouis. Thanks to our sponsors, Maryville University and Cass Commercial Bank.

Missouri voters dealt a major blow to Governor Mike Kehoe's top priority this week, rejecting Amendment 5 — a measure that would have set the state on a path to eliminating its individual income tax.

Despite being outspent more than four-to-one, opponents successfully branded the proposal "the everything tax," raising fears about higher sales taxes and cuts to education and public services. But what does the lopsided result really mean for Kehoe's agenda — and for Missouri's broader political landscape?

Jacob Kirn speaks with Dave Drebes, publisher of Missouri Scout and columnist for the St. Louis Business Journal, to break down why a well-funded tax cut campaign failed in a deep-red state, which constituencies drove the opposition, and what comes next for the governor heading into a budget-constrained legislative session.

In this episode:

• Why the absence of a specific plan became Amendment 5's biggest vulnerability
• The role of the Missouri Realtors Association in funding the opposition
• What the defeat means for Kehoe's political standing and business alliances
• Whether a bold tax reform push could return — or if Missouri is back to slow, incremental cuts
• The structural challenges keeping Democrats in the super-minority at the Capitol

LINKS:

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis

What if the key to solving St. Louis's biggest challenges is simply getting the right people in the same room — and actually letting them talk?

Erik sits down with Matt Homann, founder and CEO of Filament, a St. Louis-based company that makes meetings more productive. Filament has been tapped by the Regional Business Council to help convene downtown stakeholders who, despite doing good work, had likely never been in the same room together.

Matt explains why Filament bans PowerPoint entirely, how simple exercises like "I wish, I wonder, I worry" unlock surprising consensus, and why breakthroughs happen when people stop delivering information and start thinking together.

They also discuss Filament's annual Thinksgiving event (November 5th at Cortex Innovation District), where businesses and nonprofits are paired to tackle real strategic challenges — producing results like a nonprofit rebrand, new board members, and leadership skills employees bring back to the office.

More info at thinksgivingday.com

Learn more about Filament: meetfilament.com

Karen Branding, president and CEO of the Regional Business Council, joins the show to explain how the 100-CEO organization is stepping up on two of St. Louis' most pressing challenges. First, she details the RBC's downtown revitalization effort — a coalition of more than 30 organizations now in the middle of a six-month sprint targeting cleaner streets, increased police presence, a more active riverfront, and a better narrative for the city's core. Then, she breaks down the RBC's position on city-county regionalism: why a majority of its members support city re-entry into the county as the most realistic path forward, what lessons past failed attempts have taught, and what the business community can actually do to move the needle.

ESCO Technologies has grown 240% in five years — but most St. Louisans have never heard of it.

Business reporter Nathan Rubbelke joins host Erik Siemers to break down the surprising rise of ESCO Technologies, a St. Louis-based public company whose stock has surged from roughly $95 to over $330 a share in five years. With $1 billion in annual revenue and ambitions to double that by 2027, ESCO is drawing Wall Street attention it rarely sought before.

Ribelky explains how CEO Brian Saylor — a 30-year company veteran — has transformed ESCO from a quiet holding company into a high-growth enterprise by doubling down on three sectors: aerospace and defense (including major U.S. Navy submarine contracts), utilities infrastructure, and radio frequency testing. His boldest moves: two record-breaking acquisitions — a $550 million maritime defense deal and a $2.3 billion utility purchase he'd been eyeing for a decade.

Then, Jed Ellerbroek of Argent Capital Management puts ESCO's rise in broader context, explaining why St. Louis public companies are lagging national indexes — and what it would take for the region to close the gap.

LINKS:

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/07/14/st-louis-stock-index-lags-national-averages-tech.html

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/07/14/esco-technologies-navy-defense-aerospace-stock.html

en years after Bayer's landmark $63 billion acquisition of St. Louis-based Monsanto, the German pharmaceutical giant is finally seeing the legal tide turn — but the battle is far from over. In this episode, St. Louis Business Journal reporter Jim Drew joins host Erik to break down a recent flurry of major developments in Bayer's long-running Roundup litigation.

The U.S. Supreme Court handed Bayer a decisive 7-2 victory, ruling that federal pesticide law preempts state-level "failure to warn" lawsuits — potentially clearing a path to dismiss tens of thousands of claims. At the same time, a St. Louis Circuit Court is weighing a proposed $7.25 billion class action settlement that would resolve 67,000 Roundup cases, even as a faction of cancer victims pushes back on the terms.

We also look at Bayer's surprising move to create a separate business unit — Ruvian — to house its Roundup operations, raising questions about liability management and whether a full spinoff could be on the horizon. And as insurers fight back against Bayer's attempts to recoup billions in legal costs, we examine what the science still doesn't know about glyphosate — and why this story may be far from its final chapter.

• Cancer research continues as Supreme Court sides with Bayer on Roundup labels
• Just a mBayer says Supreme Court ruling should dismiss 'vast majority' of Roundup lawsuitsoment...
• Judge delays Bayer's $7.25B Roundup settlement hearing amid objections
• Judge declares mistrial in Roundup lawsuit after US Supreme Court ruling
• Bayer creates new unit for Roundup business, based in Creve Coeur
• Insurers attack Bayer bid for coverage (Round Up)

St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer joins Erik and Jacob to take stock of downtown's momentum — and confront the city's toughest structural questions.

Six months after calling on the business community to plant a flag downtown, Mayor Spencer returns to the Arch City Report to assess what's changed. With the Rams settlement bill moving through the Board of Aldermen — potentially allocating $55 million for downtown redevelopment, the riverfront, and North City — Spencer breaks down exactly how those dollars would be deployed and what private matching investment could follow.

But the conversation quickly turns to the harder questions: a state-appointed police board demanding a 22% pay raise with 24-hour notice, the strain on city services from a declining tax base, and whether St. Louis can realistically meet all of its pressing needs without a bigger structural fix. Is it finally time for a serious conversation about city-county merger?

Topics covered:

• Downtown development progress — Millennium site, Ballpark Village Phase 3, AT&T Tower, and Mansion House
• How the $55M in Rams settlement funds would be allocated across downtown, the riverfront, and North City
• The city's role as facilitator vs. doer in redevelopment
• The breakdown with the state police board and the battle over officer pay and benefits
• The case for regionalizing government functions — and whether opposition to merger is softening

Arch City Report is sponsored by Maryville University and Cass Commercial Bank.

St. Louis chef Loryn Nalic — chef and co-owner of Balkan Treat Box and Telva at The Ridge — joins Veneta Rizvic to celebrate her 2026 James Beard Award win in the Best Chef Midwest category. Loryn shares what the win means to her, the deeply personal story behind Balkan Treat Box and how the restaurant helped reunite her husband Edo's family after years of separation, and her recent research trip to Bosnia where she trained at a legendary bakery. She also weighs in on the flourishing St. Louis dining scene, the "James Beard effect" on her business, and what the future might hold for her restaurants.

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/06/15/st-louisan-best-chef-james-beard-foundation-awards.html

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/feature/arch-city-report

Mentioned in this episode:

Cass Commercial Bank

Cass Commercial Bank...member FDIC. https://www.cassbank.com/