ST. LOUIS, MO (KMOX)– When the Chrysler Plant closed in 2009, plenty of speculation on the future of the site ravaged throughout the last 14 years.
From talk of using the site as a football stadium for the St. Louis Rams, along many other recommendations and ideas, nothing seemed to materialize until the land the plant was on was purchased by U.S. Capital Development in 2014 with the goal of creating a 'Fenton Logistics Park'.
U.S. Capital Development heavily reworked the land to include roads, utilities, and buildings.
"We spent a bunch of time getting it prepared because all the utilities were obsolete," said Scott Haley, Managing Director, US Capital Development, on 'Hancock and Kelley' Friday, "We really had to rebuild everything up."
According to Haley, the only thing that was on the land prior to the company's acquisition of the land were millions of square feet of slabs and underground utilities.
Today, after years of development, especially in the last five years, the plant is now home to thousands of workers and multiple businesses on the site formerly housing the plant, where there is 2 million square feet of combined business space.
According to the company, an estimated 3,000 workers are now driving to businesses that now occupy the site of the former Fenton-Chrysler plant.
Businesses like Amazon, 1st Phorm and Grey Distributors, a wholesaler for Anheuser-Busch, has taken residency on the site of the old plant.
Out of town businesses have joined in the fray at the park like Wally's, a popular road-trip gas station similar to 'Buc-Ees' in southern U.S.
According to the development company, Fenton Logistics Park is now currently 100% leased and the completion of these projects marks a significant milestone in the region's industrial landscape.
"It's been a really amazing transformation from what happened in 2009, when the plant closed," said Haley.
Haley says that there still potential for more business to enter the fray in the logistics plant.
U.S. Capital Development officially began putting the final touches in August on three state-of-the-art industrial facilities at the Logistics Park, boasting an impressive combined area of 416,000 square feet.
Haley says food and dining are one of the last major focuses on the development of the area.
"Our last focus is the restaurants, along with retail and hotel," said Haley, "There is obviously some surrounding stuff, but our goal is to compliment the park and provide opportunities for the traveling public going down to I-270 and I-44 to bring services down there so everyone can benefit."