ST. LOUIS (KMOV) -- St. Louis has made many strides in attracting residents back into the city, and not just in the trendy downtown loft district.

There is one area steeped in history that suffered a mass exodus into the county, but is now coming back thanks to a powerful man determined to be a good neighbor.

Developer Bryan Phillips said the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood really started going downhill in the late-‘80s and early-‘90s when hardworking residents left and drug dealers moved in.

“The tipping point emotionally for the neighborhood was back in '92. I think it was in the 4300 block of Gibson (Avenue). The neighborhood had developed a gang problem, and two rival gangs ... got into a shootout. They used a 10-year-old boy as a bullet shield. I think that's when the residents said, ‘We've had enough,’” Phillips said.

That's also about the time the Washington University School of Medicine got a small grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to begin turning things around.

Phillips heads up that effort.

“Step one was going out and talking with the neighborhood. That was painful. People were suspicious about our intentions. Was this going to be about gentrification?” he said.

It wasn't.

Since then, the medical center has invested over $22 million in the neighborhood, in areas like job training, property cleanup and affordable housing.

Patrice Willis just bought a newly renovated condo, choosing Forest Park Southeast over a ranch in north St. Louis County.

“I admit the neighborhood has some challenges that lie ahead of it, but you go one block over, and you see hope,” she said.

Hope is not a new concept to developer Phillips.

His early childhood was spent in the infamous Pruitt-Igoe housing complex, one of the biggest failures in modern urban planning.

“I can still remember ... when the elevator didn't work and the smell of urine in the stairwell,” Phillips said.

Part of being a developer is building consensus. Believing retail would follow rooftops, Phillips turned to attracting businesses.

Phillips said that proved to be a tough sell.

“Literally in '96 ... nearly every storefront (between Kingshighway and Vandeventer) was boarded except for Renard Paper on the western edge and Commerce Bank on the eastern edge,” he said.

But that is also turning around and now "The Grove," as this stretch of Manchester Avenue is known, includes sports bars, restaurants and entertainment venues.

"This is a wonderful neighborhood and a lot is being invested in it, so I'm hopeful,” Phillips said.

Speaking of hope, Angiemay Renner was born on this street 87 years ago. She remembers when a misguided real estate agent tried to scare her out.

“When the first African Americans moved in on Wichita, I had a real estate man come to the door and he said, ‘Do you know black people are moving in the neighborhood?’

“I said, ‘Oh, they are? Well, they've been down here on Papin for years. There's another whole apartment over by Adams School.’

“He just stood there and looked at me like I was nuts.”

Renner didn't leave then, and she's not leaving now, especially since her neighborhood is finally coming back.

“I think it’s good to meet all these different people. That feeds my soul,” she said.