Former Auto Plant Coming Back to Life

ST. LOUIS—KP Development has just signed leases with two more tenants who will occupy a total of 240,000 square feet at its new Fenton Logistics Park, which the company has begun building on the site of the former Chrysler assembly plant in suburban Fenton, MO. Hubbell-Killark, a global provider of integrated electrical industrial products, will relocate from Martin Luther King Dr. to a state-of-the-art, single-use 160,000-square-foot facility at the park, while BASF will move its 80,000-square-foot agricultural services division to a portion of another building.

The newest tenants will join BJC’s clinical asset management division, CoreLink, Alkem Labs and Beckwood Press Co., each of which already operates within the park. The revival of an abandoned auto plant into so many new uses illustrates that the region’s industrial market remains quite healthy, with a host of users ready to replace a company that had been a bedrock of the market.

According to a new report from Cushman & Wakefield, the market recorded 2.2 million square feet of positive absorption in the second quarter of 2018, and prices and rents keep rising.

Since closing on the acquisition of the plant site in November 2014, KP Development has already invested $12 million in site improvements related to the initial phase of infrastructure, roadway work and utilities. The first four buildings represent an additional investment of $65 million. Looking ahead, KP Development envisions a $222 million, 2.1 million-square foot business park.

“The significant commitment from both Hubbell-Killark and BASF is expanding the total number of quality, skilled jobs within Fenton Logistics Park to nearly 700,” says Scott Sachtleben, managing principal of KP Development. The company “has invested more than $75 million in redeveloping the former Chrysler site, and now that approximately one third of the industrial opportunity within the park has been consumed, the momentum is only increasing.”