Money On The Way For Former Fenton Chrysler Site
KTVI-FOX2news
February 17, 2010
by Andy Banker
President Obama's so-called "car czar" is coming to Fenton, Thursday, with a new $1.6 federal grant for the empty Chrysler plant. The news is fueling speculation about what's next for the site. Nothing seems out of question: from new stadiums, to a casino, to a new car plant. The grant will be added to a half-million dollars from St. Louis County, Fenton, and the State of Missouri.
The total of $2.1 million will help market the site and pay for an environmental study.
"The journey of a thousand steps starts with one small one," said Fenton Mayor, Dennis Hancock, standing outside the plant, Wednesday night. "That's where we are tomorrow, starting the process...if you got the right businesses in and the right mix, we could potentially be looking at a lot more jobs than Chrysler or any other automaker would have had here in their heyday."
There were only about 600 workers still there when Chrysler's Fenton plant closed last summer.
Hancock said there were more than 8000 in the 1970's; with more than 290 acres and 5 million square feet at the site, there's certainly room for more.
St. Louis County Executive, Charlie Dooley, was intrigued by the possibilities, Including this one; Chrysler's new owner, Fiat, reportedly looking to open a new North American plant.
"I would love for it be another automobile plant," Dooley said. "I think it would be a great place for the new automobile Chrysler wants to do with the Italians."
It seems like something's up, with Ed Montgomery, Obama's Director of Recovery for Automotive Communities and workers, or "car czar", coming to announce the grant.
"It'd be different if he was just coming to be coming," Dooley said. "[But] he's coming with money. To me, that's significant."
Prospective buyers have already been touring the site; though mayor Hancock believes its car-making days over and the buildings will come down.
"To me it makes a lot more sense to look at it in terms of having that mix as opposed to one big egg in the basket, where 10 years from now were in the same boat were in today," he said.
Hancock expects a sale of the site this year and new businesses on the site within 3 years.
Old Carco, the name given to Chrysler's bankrupt owner during the federal bailout and takeover, recently sold one of its smaller, shuttered plants, for a reported $24 million.
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