Corporate Relocation
First impressions
St. Louis Business Journal
Mark Waters has been in the corporate relocation business since 1991, and he hasn't seen a downturn yet.
As president of Relocation Realtors of St. Louis, he helps people moving here for their jobs find homes in municipalities and neighborhoods that have what they're looking for when it comes to schools, medical care, houses of worship, average income level, average education level and more.
Take it from Lauren Herring, president of global services at locally based Impact Group: "We're not just relocating a job; we're relocating a person, a family and a lifestyle." Her company helps the spouses of transferred employees find jobs and helps families adjust to their new city, among other services.
One thing is for sure: Waters and Herring aren't facing a shortage of clients. Companies large and small transfer employees to (and from) St. Louis constantly.
Why wouldn't they? The city took the No. 9 spot among large metro areas on the 2007 Best Cities for Relocating Families list, published by Worldwide ERC and Primacy Relocation. Factors considered in the ranking include cost of living, crime rate, education and climate.
According to the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association, the region's work force is more than a million strong, and 62 percent of organizations that took part in an RCGA survey plan to hire more workers over the next year. You can see how the numbers add up when you consider that a company in 2005 paid, on average, $64,235 to relocate a current employee who is a homeowner and $52,318 to relocate a new employee who is a homeowner, Worldwide ERC reported.
The Business Journal is no stranger to recent transplants to the city. In fact, we introduce you to one of them each week in our New to Town column. For this year's Corporate Relocation section, we decided to contact some executives we formerly featured in New to Town, and we asked them what they think of St. Louis now that they've been here for a little while.
Several of them said it truly is a small city with all the offerings of a bigger one. Many seemed to roll their eyes at the familiar "Where did you go to high school?" question. Their favorite restaurants run the gamut -- from Trattoria Marcella to Sqwires to Mosaic.
But almost unfailingly, they seem to love it here.
Can you blame them?
Andrea Mongler, Section editor
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