The St. Louis area is booming with industrial growth thanks to improvements on the 70-mile corridor on Interstate 70 that runs from Foristell, Missouri to Marine, Illinois. Ushering in national manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors, the construction boom is evident along I-70.
Ed Lampitt, Vice Chair of Cushman & Wakefield said that it is noteworthy that 85% of all institutional product in the St. Louis area is along the 70s corridor and agreed that it is where they are seeing the bulk of regional industrial activity. Along the corridor, there is approximately $1 billion worth of infrastructure improvements under or planned.
Steadfast City recently completed in-depth research on the 70s corridor, which includes I-70 and portions of Interstates 170, 270 and 370. Eight million square feet of new space was delivered and about six and a half million square feet was absorbed.
Matt Hrubes, Senior Vice President of CBRE said the tax abatements have had an impact along the 70s corridor, as the types of tax abatements that originated in Illinois years ago and drove industrial development there, have made their way into Missouri.
“That's what really spearheaded a lot of that development along Highway 70, especially in the Hazelwood market,” Hrubes said, “Without those kinds of economic incentives, who knows where we'd be. That was really a driving force, I think, that added to the success of those developments.”
Hrubes said, “in the Southwestern Illinois market, it used to be a 10-year sliding scale tax abatement, and now on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River, the industry is seeing 18 or even 20 years of tax abatement being offered and the same thing occurring in St. Charles County, where other types of incentives, such as Chapter 100s, are adding to the success of developments such as the Premier 370 Business Park.”
According to Hrubes, demand for labor is what will continue to drive development further west along the 70s corridor.
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Source: St. Louis Regional Freightway
