Business View Magazine - October 2016 131
was all established on the basis of creating an area
that had the same look of the older towns of the past,
with a traditional main street, buildings fronting the
street with parking to the rear. And it’s been done with
a mix of both commercial and residential uses – it’s an
approach known as New Urbanism.”
When the city first incorporated, it had a population
of about 16,000; today Wildwood has about 36,000
residents living in all areas of the city: the town cen-
ter, the suburban/residential, and non-urban areas,
as well. “The development standards established by
the City, early on, have now resulted in nicer develop-
ments that have attracted more people to the area,”
says Thomas.
Today, Thomas reports that the city is working to in-
crease employment opportunities for those residents,
many of whom still commute to St. Louis for work. “The
residential developments have happened organically,”
he says, “but we’re trying to promote more retail and
office development to complement the residential and
bring more employers for residents of Wildwood to
also work in Wildwood. In the past year or two, our City
Council has started to give much more emphasis to
economic development – trying to do more to promote
