Starting a Business…in a New Community

Welcome back!

Part of the attraction of some new urbanist communities is the infrastructure that has been put in place to support entrepreneurs. Often times these developments are approved for mixed use zoning so you can have a local grocery store or cafe or financial services office, etc., within walking distance of your new home.

This is ideal for those of us hoping to start that dream business right smack in the middle of a growing community. In todays Suburban Journal (St. Louis), life in new urbanism community New Town at St. Charles (Missouri) is examined from an entrepreneurial perspective. The publication profiles a few residents and their live/work plans or experiences in their new community.

Mr. Satish Pardeshi, a resident who purchased one of the live/work units (homes that have been zone approved for a residence and on-site business) is still working full-time elsewhere but hopes to open his dry cleaning business in a few months. There are over 2000 residents living in St. Charles and in 10 years 3,000 more residents are expected. While these numbers are encouraging a concerted marketing and promotions effort is still needed to get folks to shop locally. The developer and local business owners do their best to attract residents and visitors to the town’s core through weekend activities and special events.

I love reading about these kinds of stories because I feel like as a nation we are taking back our communities and allowing ourselves to realize our lifestyle dreams through these intentional communities. Imagine creating neighborhoods that allow mom and pop shops, and small business owners to build businesses that can take care of their families…talk about everything old being new again!