‘Car Czar’ at Fenton Chrysler plant today
KMOV
February 18, 2010
(KMOV) -- President Obama's "Car Czar" comes to St. Louis today.
Ed Montgomery will visit the former Chrysler plant in Fenton to hand out a nearly $1.6 million federal grant.
The hope is the tax dollars will breathe new life into the shuttered plant.
The last Chrysler rolled off the line last summer and 5,000 people lost their jobs.
Since then the 5-million square-foot space has sat empty.
Now, Fenton's mayor is hoping for a major employer to find a new home at the empty plant.
Montgomery will cut a check for nearly $1.6 million on Thursday morning. Local officials applied for that money last year.
Fenton's mayor expects the injection of federal money to pay for consultants to look at the site and make suggestions on how best to market it for re-development.
The money will also pay for environmental studies for prospective buyers to know what problems the plant has.
The grant comes with the condition that local government step up with a 25-percent match. That makes this a total of $2.1 million dollars in taxpayer investment.
If all goes as planned Fenton's mayor hopes at least one new buyer will be on board within a year bringing real activity back in Fenton within two to three years.
