$250-million Hazelwood Commerce Center

arch city · PostDec 20, 2004#12004-12-20T18:57+00:00

Good news for Hazelwood after job losses at Ford.

Hazelwood has its own noise abatement property northwest of the airport, and a 200-acre area along with Trammell Crow Co., will soon be developing Hazelwood Commerce Center, a $200 million office, light industrial, manufacturing and warehousing complex.

Hazelwood Commerce Center is expected to include 13 buildings in 2.6 million square feet of usable space, and 264 jobs.

The land is bounded by Summit Avenue, Phantom Road, Missouri Bottom Road, Beulah Road and Lindbergh Boulevard. It has been vacant since before 1998. The site has contaminants including asbestos-containing debris, hydrocarbons and metals.

St. Louis Business Journal: Hazelwood project approved for up to $6.9M in tax credits

urbanstlouis · PostAug 25, 2005#22005-08-25T05:14+00:00

<A HREF="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/busine ... 6">Eminent domain: boon or bane?</A>

By Tavia Evans

Of the Post-Dispatch

07/23/2005

The Hazelwood Commerce Center, a proposed $250 million business park, has been in the works for several years. The city of Hazelwood issued requests for proposals on the old Robertson neighborhood, just north of Lambert Field. Most residents left in an airport-noise buyout in the 1980s. The city had already designated the area blighted.

Financing details have not been completed, but McEagle Development expects to receive some form of TIF money for the business park.

"It's a tool that cities can use to attract or encourage developments," said Bruce Sokolik, president of McEagle Development. "In our case, the city had already gone through the process of blighting the land for eminent domain, so we responded to the offer to develop it."

However, five businesses and several parcels of land are standing in the way because the property owners say they're getting a raw deal.

"The developer convinces the city they can improve the tax base, create jobs and put the land to a more profitable use at the expense of happy and thriving businesses if they can receive tax increment financing," said attorney Robert Denlow, who is representing the businesses. "The city just jumped at it."

Susan Woltering is president of C.R. Frank Popcorn Co. and Select Drinks. Her father founded the businesses 34 years ago and bought the property at 5401 North Lindbergh. Woltering said McEagle's latest offer of $325,000 would not be enough to relocate and buy new property.

"They stand to make plenty off of this development, but we can't even buy ground for the amount they're offering," she said. "In order to continue business, we need a new building to go to. The way the law is written, everything is in their favor."

<A HREF="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/busine ... 470032D266">>>> read the entire article</A>

arch city · PostAug 07, 2007#32007-08-07T13:51+00:00

New renderings.

PostAug 07, 2007#42007-08-07T14:00+00:00

And check out this article.

It's good, I think, to have other cities look at how St. Louis is doing things to offset economic setbacks. It really speaks well for St. Louis's resilence and leadership. The article below talks about the Hazelwood Commerce Center development after the loss of Ford.

Life after Ford: Lesson from Hazelwood, Mo.

By JEREMIAH MCWILLIAMS , The Virginian-Pilot

© July 9, 2006

^Check out the rabbit in the photo.

From the article,

In Hazelwood , a city of about 26,000 in the northern suburbs of St. Louis, it's a tale of how the community is coping with the loss of one of its largest employers.

Nearly 1,000 miles away at Ford's Norfolk Assembly Plant, the Hazelwood experience could represent a road map for what lies ahead as 2,433 workers face a shutdown in two years.

[snip]

The four years St. Louis Assembly spent bouncing on and off Ford's closure list gave the city of Hazelwood time to attract other investment.

Developers pressed ahead on the $250 million St. Louis Mills shopping mall, a 1.1 million-square-foot retail destination and home of the St. Louis Blues hockey practice facility. The mall opened in 2003 and is still attracting tenants, including a Cabela's outdoor supply showroom expected to open as early as this fall and employ about 300 . Carr points out the mall as a sign that Hazelwood's economy is weathering the loss of Ford.

"We've made every effort to diversify our economic base," Carr said over lunch at the Lucky Strike bowling alley in the mall. "When the announcement was made in 2002, we knew it would be an uphill battle. ... It's not been painless, but at least we could plan and prepare for it."

A 460-acre office park was finished around St. Louis Mills, and a projected Hazelwood Commerce Center is spreading across 151 acres north of the St. Louis airport. Hazelwood, Carr noted, is about to become a "three-Starbucks town." The city's streets rattle with jackhammers and pavers as the city uses a $15 million bond issue to pay for extensive upgrades.

Source