Grant will prepare auto plant for new use
KMOV, by AP
February 17, 2010
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Federal officials will announce $1.575 million in funding to get Fenton's former Chrysler plant complex marketed and ready for a new use, Mayor Dennis Hancock said Wednesday.
He said the grant, to be announced Thursday, was pursued by the city of Fenton, St. Louis County and state of Missouri. It will also pay for identifying any potential environmental hazards at the 295-acre industrial site.
Edward Montgomery, President Barack Obama's appointee to help communities deal with the aftermath of the auto downsizing, and David Kerr, director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, are expected to make the official announcement at 1 p.m. Thursday in Fenton.
Additional monies from the state, city and county will bring the total to $2.1 million, David Leezer, vice president of the St. Louis County Economic Council, said Wednesday. He said the money will be used to identify the property's assets and potentially interested parties and market it.
Chrysler's north and south plants in Fenton once employed thousands of autoworkers. The St. Louis County town and region took a big financial hit when the plants were shuttered in 2008 and 2009. The Chrysler plants, along with parts makers and affiliated companies, were the single largest tax entity for the Rockwood School District and Fenton Fire Protection District, and the second-largest tax-producing entity for the county, Hancock said.
The plants' closure left a $1 million, or 15 percent, hole in Fenton's 2009 operating budget.
"It's been a long time since we've had good news about the site," Hancock said.
With frontage on Interstate 44 and proximity to I-270, the property could generate jobs, and sales and property tax for the region if it was developed for use in retail, restaurant and entertainment, light assembly, distribution, warehousing or heavy industrial uses, the mayor said.
"We have one opportunity to redevelop the site, in my lifetime," he said. "When I look at the site, I see a blank slate."
The property, with access to rail yards, includes the north and south plant buildings, an easement, parking, wastewater treatment plant and engine plant.
The Fenton property is among several closed and unwanted Chrysler plants that are being liquidated as the company finalizes its bankruptcy.
Daniel Hayes, principal with commercial real estate broker NAI DESCO, said Wednesday that potential users, developers and redevelopers from the St. Louis area, the U.S. and other countries have inquired and/or toured one or both of the plants.
He said there is no asking price or deadline for bids, other than a desire to have them come "sooner rather than later."
Efforts to sell old U.S. auto plants have had mixed results.
The 272-acre, former Chrysler plant in Newark, Del., was purchased in November by the University of Delaware for a research campus.
And Ford Motor Co. sold its shuttered plant in Hazelwood, a St. Louis suburb, in June 2008, two years after the 150-acre site was closed.
Ford sold the property to Sacramento-based Panattoni Development Company Inc., which demolished the old buildings and prepared it for new use. But the poor economy has stalled any takers, St. Louis County's Leezer said.
A recent Associated Press analysis shows how difficult it can be to repurpose old auto plants.
Of 128 manufacturing plants in North America closed since 1980 by the Detroit Three automakers and their largest suppliers, three of every five now sit idle.
Challenges include a slowdown in commercial real estate, plants' distance from urban centers, and the cost of cleaning up hazardous materials left onsite.
