St. Louis man walks downtown daily and sees 'steady progress'

ST. LOUIS — Denis Beganovic walks along a stretch of Locust Street downtown and sees potential.

At the corner of Locust and Tucker Boulevard is the Jefferson Arms building, which is currently undergoing renovations. The once-grand hotel, which opened for the 1904 World's Fair and twice hosted the Democratic National Convention, is being renovated into a new hotel with apartments and retail stores. The old Shell building next door now houses two hotels. Walk west past the stately and historic Central Library and the street begins to teem with hope.

There is the new 21c Museum Hotel, housed in the old YMCA building. The basketball gym floor is still there, but it is now a public art gallery. Then there's the huge Butler Brothers warehouse, which sat empty for years but has been beautifully converted into apartments and lofts. Continuing downtown West, you'll find yourself north of CityPark, the gem of a soccer stadium that's spurring foot traffic and development.

This is the city center that Beganovic sees every day on his walks.

He goes for walks at any time of the day and into the evening. As a downtown resident, the 38-year-old walks to Laclede's Landing, The Arch, Soulard, Union Station and Carr Square. He's walked more than 16,000 miles over the past four years and shared his finds – a new restaurant here, a building permit there – with his followers on social media.

“There is steady progress downtown,” Beganovic told me.

He was nine years old when his family fled war-torn Bosnia and, like thousands of other refugees, came to St. Louis to find a new home. Beganovic recently invited me for a walk because he has other reporters and civic and business leaders – and anyone who takes up the offer.

He talks about visitors from out of town – he recently met a couple from Luxembourg – and says they enjoy St. Louis, from the Arch to the sports and entertainment venues to the famous city museum. “The idea that it’s unsafe to go downtown and enjoy a restaurant,” he says, pausing for effect. “I can't understand it.”

His running and status as perhaps the No. 1 cheerleader downtown began during the pandemic. It was May 2020 and the gym where Beganovic trained was closed. He started taking long walks to exercise. He would see something new every day.

There was a time, he says, when he “believed all the stories about downtown.” What he saw began to change his mind.

Beganovic's main job is an urban planner. He is currently working on planning military facilities around the world. Data is important to him and helps him confirm what he sees with his own eyes.

Take crime. As I've written before, crime in St. Louis is on the decline and has dropped significantly over the last three years. It is also decreasing in the city center. In fact, downtown crime has fallen nearly 40 percent since its pandemic-era peak. Meanwhile, both downtown spending and job creation are increasing.

When there's bad news downtown — a company exit or a high-profile crime — Beganovic goes back to Twitter and other social media, pushing back against the negative discussion and adding data to the conversation. Like this nugget: In the first six months of 2024, downtown St. Louis generated more than $900 million in taxable sales, far more than any other neighborhood or community in the St. region, according to U.S. Department of Revenue statistics .Louis.

Beganovic, a world traveler, understands why some world leaders often wring their hands when comparing St. Louis to other cities. For example, walking through downtown Nashville or Cincinnati can give the impression that these cities are more lively. But that's in part simply because St. Louis, both its 2-square-mile downtown and the surrounding region, is more spread out than many other areas.

As we stood in front of the construction site of the Jefferson Arms building, Beganovic pointed to the expanse of Tucker Boulevard, which was 10 lanes wide in some places.

“It was built for another city,” he said of the street.

The city government plans to go on a “diet” by shortening lanes and making them more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. Such changes are happening slowly, but they will make a big difference in the perception of the city center, believes Beganovic.

“The real problem downtown is connectivity,” he says. “We have all these great things. They just need to be better connected.”

Not everyone is willing or able to walk as long as Beganovic – from Union Station to Ballpark Village, north to the Convention Center and west on Washington Avenue. There are pockets of success in the city center, but they are isolated. He believes giving pedestrians, cyclists and drivers a clear path to get from one place to another must be a priority.

In the meantime, he will move on. He will continue to urge residents and business leaders to be as proud of downtown as he is. This is his home and he wants others to appreciate it.

“We can be proud of the progress we have made,” says Beganovic. “You can’t deny that St. Louis is safer this year than it was last year and the year before that. I don't feel unsafe. I just don’t.”