Dan Borgmeyer, Mayor of St. Charles, was recently interviewed on the In Your City Show, hosted by Gordon & Kelley Montgomery, highlighting some of the City’s exciting new developments and future plans.
As Mayor Dan speaks about St. Charles, it’s obvious he has a lot of passion and vision for the City. “I’d say my passion does make the difference,” he says.
“I tell them at City Hall that I’m a 1-2-5-3-4 guy. I got that from an ad guy I knew downtown who came up with ‘The King of Beers.’ One, I get the idea; two, I kind-of formulate it; and five, I see it done. I provide the vision, I apply a lot of those things I’ve seen in other places I’ve visited while traveling for my business every week for many years…but I’m not good at everything, so I find the right people and let them do ‘three’ and ‘four.’ I have good people who get things done. It’s moving in a positive direction every day. People tell me they can’t wait to get to work because of all the exciting things that are happening in St. Charles.”
He says St. Charles needs to continue to increase tourism and also to attract more millennials to keep the tax base solid, so the City is planning new residential areas as well as fun things for residents and tourists to do.
What are some of those exciting things coming to St. Charles?
The Boroughs of Riverwalk: six distinct areas that he says will “redefine the city.”
This includes Historic South Main Street, the North Main entertainment and boutique shopping district, “where we’re adding fun things like The Soft Drink Museum of America, a major wedding and music venue, and the Burger Underground sports bar,” and the redevelopment of Frenchtown to include trendy businesses and residential areas. “It’ll have a cool artsy vibe with new brewpubs, building murals, and a shipping container village called Innovation Village,” says Mayor Dan. North Town will include upscale residential and businesses.
And work is now underway on the largest piece of the project, the 180-acre Riverpointe that will stretch along the Missouri River that Mayor Dan says will generate two billion dollars in development, 6000 new jobs with 100 new businesses. With a 30-acre riverside lake, the new waterfront stretching between the Ameristar casino and the Family Arena will be lined with office space, retail, hotels and residential developments.
In addition, he says The Arabia Steamboat Museum that’s been in KC was wanting to move to Jeff City, but they are bringing it to St. Charles. It’ll be called the Steamboat Museum of America.
“But actually, with all of these great things St. Charles has to offer its residents and tourists, I believe the number one factor in people wanting to be in St. Charles is because it’s safe here. We have our excellent police force to thank for that.”
When asked what inspired him to want to be Mayor of St. Charles, Mayor Dan had a few reasons. He says he was ready to pass his business on to his son, who was more able and willing to do keep up with it all the changes in the industry. “But I wanted to make sure I had something to do besides watch TV all day,” he quips. “My grandfather used to be the U.S. Marshall and Sheriff of St. Charles and my dad was very involved civically, so it was something I wanted to do to continue that, to give back to a community that’s been good to me.”
