Prairie Farms is moving to the Metro East from Carlinville, Ill, and building a new 3-story building.

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/morn ... rs-in.html

https://www.riverbender.com/articles/de ... -13271.cfm

Edwardsville is certainly much closer to the core of the region than Carlinville.

Scrolling through Crane Tracker, I was surprised to see how many office buildings are going up on the East Side.

Been saying for years that we need rail service between Edwardsville and St. Louis. No, not a dedicated Metrolink line, or an extension off the existing MetroEast line. Heavy rail -- akin to, say, Chicago's Metra system, that can travel along existing (with some new trackage needed) rail lines. Tough feat in E-Ville proper, but I was thinking of something like a terminus at Schwartz & Main, with new trackage running along Rte 157 to reduce demo. and displacement. From there, on to an out-station near the SIUE campus proper on its way out of through the country and then runs adjacent to the bike trail on its way to hook back up with existing trackage at 255. Pontoon Beach, Horsehoe Lake, Granite City, and Madison across the Merchants Bridge and into a new northside train station. Easy-peasy, right?

(With that said, I used the Madison County Transit bus system for years to get to work in downtown St. Louis, and it was super-reliable and fairly quick. So maybe rail isn't needed at all...)