Panel recommends changes to tax credit programs in Missouri Gov. Greitens had created the task force, the second such effort to study tax-credit reforms in the last seven years.

The redevelopment expenditures eligible for historic tax credits topped those in much larger cities like Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. Backers say it’s what helped keep downtown alive and spurred a renaissance of redevelopment over the last 20 years, creating the Washington Avenue loft district and rehabbing countless buildings in a business district filled with structures more than a century old. They say it’s essential to make the expensive work of restoring architecturally unique buildings economical.

“Downtown St. Louis would still have 50-plus empty buildings in the Central Business District but for this state historic tax credit program,” said Steven Stogel, one of the developers behind the Old Post Office rehab and a big player in the historic tax credit industry. “The CBD has a handful of empty buildings today and needs to be finished. Why not let it get finished?”

A 2014 audit estimated over $1.1 billion in state historic credits had been redeemed in the 10 years prior. In recent years, some $60 million in historic credits have been redeemed annually, according to Galloway’s audit, and an additional $71 million credits were outstanding as of June 2016. Another $273 million worth was obligated for new projects as of last June, according to the audit, although those projects must actually get built before the state issues the credits to developers.