NorthPoint Development

NorthPoint Development Celebrates Riverport Trade Center Finish

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(Maryland Heights, MO, May 3, 2023) – NorthPoint Development hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony today May 3 to unveil the new 725,000-square-foot industrial park, Riverport Trade Center. Located at 13955 Riverport Place Drive, the Class A, state-of-the-art industrial park consists of three buildings across nearly 46 acres.   

The investment into Maryland Heights is estimated to have created 193 construction jobs and is expected to bring more than 292 operational jobs to the Maryland Heights community. NorthPoint Development invested $63.8 million into the development, excluding additional investments made by the occupying tenants.

NorthPoint Development has invested almost $800 million across the metropolitan area, bringing 11 different industrial parks to the region.

“We are here to celebrate our tenants’ new home and to welcome them to the community,” said Mark Militzer, Regional Vice President at NorthPoint Development. “Thank you to our tenants for your continued partnership and for expanding your operations into Maryland Heights. We entered the St. Louis market in 2015 with our first development, Hazelwood Logistics Center. In eight short years, we’ve invested almost $800 million and developed 11.8 million square feet of space here in the St. Louis metropolitan area.”

Riverport Trade Center is strategically located with optimal access to I-70 and I-270, and is located near St. Louis Lambert International Airport, allowing for easy regional and local industrial distribution.

“What an exciting day for this, not only for the City of Maryland Heights but for the entire St. Louis region,” said Mayor Mike Moeller, City of Maryland Heights. “I’d like to thank NorthPoint for their interest in Maryland Heights and for bringing these three buildings and eight new businesses to the city, which represents an investment of over $63 million. This project not only represents growth for the City of Maryland Heights, but it also represents an improvement of lives in our community.”

NorthPoint Development and Cushman & Wakefield are actively leasing industrial space. Some tenants of Riverport Trade Center include Core & Main Fire Protection, Esbelt Corporation, Matthews Aurora, Vicostone, Cerrozone, Smart Karton and Core Telecom Systems.

“This property was slated for many things, many times over the last 25 years, but nothing ever came to fruition,” said Jim Carver, Director of Economic Development, City of Maryland Heights. “The city’s commitment to new development and creation of economic value is now showing as we are here together today. We could not be prouder of what the partnership with NorthPoint has accomplished and the much-needed jobs this development has created.”

Speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony included Mayor Mike Moeller, City of Maryland Heights, Jim Carver, Director of Economic Development, City of Maryland Heights, and Mark Militzer, Regional Vice President at NorthPoint Development.

Ed Lampitt and Matt Eastin of Cushman & Wakefield served as the listing brokers for the industrial park.

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Developers Talk PPP Success, Jobs Creation in Redeveloping Former Auto Plant Sites

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By KERRY SMITH, EDITOR, ST. LOUIS CONSTRUCTION NEWS AND REVIEW MAGAZINE

Cooperation between public agencies and private development firms has manifested in redevelopment of – and reinvestment in – former automotive manufacturing sites across the St. Louis region.

This message came from a panel of experts who weighed in on past and present economic development successes in repurposing sites that once manufactured automobiles into vibrant business parks today.

The virtual panel spoke May 27 as part of FreightWeekSTL 2021, a week-long campaign held in partnership with the Inland Marine Expo. FreightWeekSTL 2021 provided industry leaders in development, real estate, logistics, freight, shipping and carrying with sessions and events spotlighting St. Louis’ global connectivity as a multimodal gateway for raw materials and finished goods.

Current evidence of such redevelopment success is Northpoint Development LLC’s 1.3 million-square-foot facility in Wentzville, formerly the General Motors automotive plant and now a GM suppliers’ location known as Wentzville Logistics Center. Mary Lamie, VP of Multimodal Enterprises for Bi-State Development and head of the St. Louis Regional Freightway, said the recent expansion of the former Wentzville plant has created more than 4,300 direct jobs and represents a $1.5 billion private investment – the largest private business investment in Missouri history. The facility is nearly 100 percent occupied.

Two other St. Louis-centric automotive plant redevelopments are further evidence of successful redevelopment and subsequent jobs creation, according to Doug Rasmussen, president and CEO of Steadfast City Economic & Community Partners.

One is the former Ford Motor Co. plant in Hazelwood. Panattoni Development Co. invested $250 million into the 160-acre site beginning in 2008 to repurpose it as Aviator Business Park, generating more than 1,500 permanent jobs.

The other is the former Chrysler plant in Fenton. US Capital Development bought the site in 2014, investing $300 million into it and redeveloping it as Fenton Logistics Park – creating 2,000 jobs in the process.

“The model for success for each of these locations focused on the bi-state region’s long history of supporting our manufacturing and logistics cluster,” Lamie said.

All three automotive site redevelopments included various public financial incentives in the mix.

“It’s incredible to think about what occurred at these locations and what’s there now,” said Rasmussen, who moderated the panel. “It’s a great story of rebirth resiliency, excellent locations, and the ingenuity and determination to get things done through valuable public-private partnerships.”

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