When you drive into the heart of Clayton, during the day, there are bustling store fronts and overcrowded restaurants, but if you drive through at night you wouldn’t realize that you were driving through the same place that afternoon. Why?

Clayton is a working town, with a population of 40,000 or more during the day and only 18,000 at bedtime.

How is our city supposed to grow if it loses all of its life after 5 p.m. and on the weekends when Clayton employees are spending money in their own towns?

Stores have gone out of business, and some streets of Clayton have almost shut down entirely. We need more people if we want to keep improving the thriving metropolis Clayton is striving to become.

A new 29 story building, The Crossing, might be the answer to Clayton’s problems.

This new residential building will add 220 new units to the community of Clayton, with mostly one bedrooms units directed for working professionals, many who do not have children under the age of 18.

These new 220 units will provide Clayton with more residents after 5 pm and more tax revenue. This will increase the revenue going to our local businesses which are in need. This is the next step to get the for sale signs or rent signs out of the store windows in downtown Clayton.

The building is also projected to bring in $16 million dollars in tax revenue over its first few years.

But, not everyone is happy about this new source of income.

Since the area in which the new building will be located is considered blighted, the developers, GTE, are receiving a tax abatement of 50 percent for the next 20 years. The tax abatement, which is upsetting to some in the Clayton community, will provide more property tax than the buildings currently occupying the property.

The School District of Clayton, SDC, believes that the deal will disproportionately hurt the school district, but their complaints have no strong facts to back them.

The Crossing is mostly one bedroom or studio units that will bring in people without kids to Clayton, not large families who will be sending their kids to Clayton Schools.

If the SDC does enroll a few more students, they will be spread out through the five schools in the District. Also, providing for these new students will be funded, since the school will indeed be receiving more revenue from property taxes than in the past years. This new project will actually benefit the SDC, by bringing in more revenue than it does students.

Even if this building sets a precedent for new buildings to come into Clayton, these new buildings will also bring in more tax revenue. These new buildings will not receive a tax abatement, because no other area in Clayton is considered blighted. The new students that will be compensated more with new funds from taxes, which represents 80% of the schools budget.

Ultimately, The Crossing is the first step to liven up downtown Clayton, better our District, and save small businesses in need.

If the City of Clayton needs to agree to a tax abatement to fuel this project, then it is a step they need to take to ensure that Clayton can continue to be an iconic, and amazing city in St. Louis County.