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ST. LOUIS — A group of city officials led by Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said Tuesday they had struck a compromise on their plans for more than $290 million in Rams relocation settlement money, adding $74 million for downtown that business leaders wanted.

The new plan outlined by the mayor's office would give the region’s main business lobby a dedicated downtown fund to boost development and fix up streets in the city center, provided that they fulfill a pledge to match most of the investment.

And plans previously championed by officials — to increase access to child care, pay for city residents to go to college, and beef up job training — would be scaled back.

Jones cast the announcement as the natural result of the legislative process. “The changes introduced to this bill are a reflection of government at its best,� she told reporters at a City Hall press conference.

But they marked an unmistakable shift in tone after weeks of acrimony between officials and the business lobby, Greater St. Louis Inc., whose board includes the region’s top executives.

Last year, Jones, Aldermanic President Megan Green, and others rebuffed calls for a special downtown fund. But stances softened in recent days, as aldermen expressed a preference for compromise, wariness of new programs when the city is struggling to clear streets of snow — and an interest in the private sector putting skin in the game.

“Programs are nice,� said Alderman Joe Vollmer, of the Hill. “But when you have matching money from GSL, you can’t overlook that.�

It also gave the mayor some good news to share after a week of bad news. Recent days have seen aldermen and residents erupt in fury at the city’s slow snow response, which was hardly abated when Jones left town for a conference and fundraiser Thursday.

The announcement was a notable moment for Greater St. Louis, a fairly new organization formed through the merger of older business lobbies making its first big push for legislation in the city.

In October, when the organization’s staff presented to aldermen a plan to send $100 million downtown and $130 million to struggling neighborhoods north and south, Green said it would be a tough sell at the board. A mayoral spokesman said the money was meant to benefit the entire city, “not just one area.�

A month later, when Alderwoman Pam Boyd, of Walnut Park West, filed Greater St. Louis’ plan as a board bill, staffers for Jones and Green watched with some amusement as Boyd and her allies struggled to assure reporters it had the votes to pass.

Even after Greater St. Louis Inc.’s then-CEO, Jason Hall, said businesses would match the $100 million for downtown “by at least two-to-one,� there was skepticism that private interests could actually deliver.

And in December, Jones, Green and Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier stood side-by-side, all smiles, as they introduced their own “Transform STL� plan, with money for child care, college scholarships, job training, as well as cash for business grants, affordable housing, streets and water pipes for the whole city.

But when the bills reached the Board of Aldermen for hearings last week, there wasn’t enough excitement for either one to pass. Green said aldermen wanted more consensus, and to mend fences with the business community.

Over the past week, they did. By Friday, there was talk of a $50 million downtown fund. By Tuesday, it had grown to $74 million.

The new bill breaks down the $74 million into three parts: $11 million is earmarked to redevelop the vacant Railway Exchange building, a problem that business leaders say must be solved to fix downtown’s woes. $30 million will fill potholes, rework intersections and repave roads. And $33 million could help build new condos to bring more people downtown, or fund incentives to bring new businesses to the area.

Officials would then put $40 million into a North Side fund, which could be used to fix roads and redevelop some of the many vacant buildings in struggling areas there. It could also be used to offer more grants to small businesses, something the Jones administration is doing now with pandemic aid, with mixed results.

Another $90 million is dedicated to streets, development and housing for all neighborhoods, except downtown. Troubled neighborhoods on the north and southeast sides would get priority.

There were some losers: A $20 million college scholarship fund that Jones wanted dropped to $10 million. Ditto for job training dollars, geared toward city workers. And money to cover city workers’ childcare costs dropped $7 million, to $30 million.

A $40 million allocation to fix the city’s aging water system, which residents identified as their top priority when the board sought their input online last year, is unchanged.

The numbers aren’t set in stone, though. Green, the aldermanic president, said Tuesday that while the mayor’s office, Greater St. Louis, and the two bill sponsors are on the same page, the rest of the board still has to weigh in.

She’s also hoping business leaders will spell out, in writing, exactly how they’ll match the downtown investment.

“I wouldn’t count anything as final,� she said.