300 Acre Port Site is a Premier Hub for Advanced Manufacturing
- March 28, 2024
In the heart of Jefferson County, Missouri, you’ll find a 300-acre former manufacturing site with two miles of frontage along the Mississippi River. The site is referred to as “Doe Run,” named after the St. Louis-based mining company that owns it. In a Q&A with Chris Neaville, Asset Development Director at The Doe Run Company, we learned what makes the site a unique opportunity for a growing business seeking a dynamic and strategically positioned location.
Missouri Partnership:
Tell us a bit about the 300-acre Doe Run site and what makes it a great spot for a growing company.
Chris Neaville:
This site can accommodate about 2 million square feet of building space for manufacturing adjacent to the Mississippi River. This provides room for a company to expand over time while being serviced by excellent transportation assets. Significant buffer property also exists on all sides to avoid potential future encroachment.
Missouri Partnership:
According to the Regional Freightway, the site is a “unique and unprecedented opportunity for intermodal development.” Can you elaborate on this?
Chris Neaville:
It is one of few properties between Memphis and St. Louis with good access to the Mississippi River, railroad and highway. The site is located on the shipping channel side of the river, with existing barge trans-loading facilities, it has the Union Pacific mainline traveling through the site, and offers quick access to Interstate 55, about 1.5 mile from the site.
Missouri Partnership:
What type of industry specifically do you think would thrive in a location like Herculaneum/Jefferson County and this site in particular? Are there any businesses in the region you’d like to highlight that could work as supply chain partners or case studies for the area being well-equipped for a particular industry or workforce?
Chris Neaville:
The site has excellent industrial infrastructure with intermodal shipping capabilities and industrial-scale utilities (electric, natural gas, and water), making it ideal for advanced manufacturing and could be developed relatively quickly compared to a greenfield site.
In terms of targeted industries, the location would be ideal for advanced battery manufacturing due to the critical minerals that can be produced in Missouri and which are necessary for batteries – such as cobalt, nickel, copper, lead, and zinc. Doe Run and U.S. Strategic Minerals can produce these strategic metals and critical minerals from mineral resources in this region.
Missouri Partnership:
What improvements have been made to the site or surrounding area to make it shovel-ready?
Chris Neaville:
In recent years, a new bridge was completed providing quick access to Interstate 55. Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is also funding the widening of I-55 in this area from Jefferson County to St. Louis and improving interchanges along the way. Additionally, land surrounding the site has been assembled and cleared for new development. More recently, The Jefferson County Port Authority has been awarded $25 million to develop new infrastructure for the site to enhance the transportation and shipping capabilities.
Missouri Partnership:
What makes this community a great place to live and work?
Chris Neaville:
Herculaneum is located in northern Jefferson County just south of St. Louis County providing easy access to St. Louis and all its amenities, while offering more affordable housing and good schools. Herculaneum High School, for example, is recognized for its early integration of solar panels to reduce energy costs, part of an investment made by Doe Run to install roof-top solar and an advanced, energy-efficient HVAC system. The city also has an all-abilities children’s outdoor park, Kade’s Playground, which is a unique asset to the local and neighboring community.
Missouri Partnership:
Can you tell us about the workforce in the region?
Chris Neaville:
The local area has a strong workforce with many skilled workers commuting to St. Louis who could be attracted to work in Herculaneum. Historically, all of the river towns in Jefferson County, (Pevely, Herculaneum, Crystal City, and Festus), were considered company towns with manufacturing companies such as St. Joe Minerals, Pittsburgh Plate Glass, Dow, and Ameren providing employment to local residents. Much of this manufacturing has closed or been scaled down resulting in a loss of local employment. This creates an opportunity to recruit new manufacturing to existing industrial sites. James Hardie Industries is one example. They are currently building a new 1-million-square-foot facility in Crystal City, Missouri.
Contact Missouri Partnership to learn more about this site or other available sites in Missouri.
About Missouri Partnership
Missouri Partnership is a public-private economic development organization focused on attracting new jobs and investment to the state and promoting Missouri’s business strengths. Since 2008, Missouri Partnership has worked with partners statewide to attract companies that have created 33,400+ new jobs, $1.7 billion+ in new annual payroll, and $7.6 billion+ in new capital investment. Some recent successful projects that led to major investment in Missouri include Accenture Federal Services LLC, American Foods Group, Casey’s, Chewy, Inc., Google, James Hardie, Meta, Swift Prepared Foods, URBN, USDA, and Veterans United.