

When the County Council rejected a proposal last summer to zone the Missouri Bottoms for industrial use, several councilmen said they were eager to find other industrial sites. It is the industrially zoned property that creates lasting jobs, and there's a shortage of that kind of property in St. Charles Rock Road that is zoned for multifamily residential use.Ī report to the county government in 1978 stressed the need for industrial sites, Newbold said. Now the company is turning to the 278 acres just west of the Bridgeton city limits, between Interstate 70 and St. They're too small or too large for a variety of uses.

We're down to odd-lot parcels, Newbold said. Since it took over, Ford has sold most of the 785 acres of property zoned for industrial or commercial use that was suitable for development. Rather than developing the land itself, the company has concentrated on selling the parcels to others who would build on it.
#LIVING EARTH MISSOURI CITY FULL#
and the main lender for the project, foreclosed and took full ownership of the undeveloped land. Ford Motor Credit, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Co.

In 1977, only 160 acres of the project had been developed. But Linclay encountered financial difficulties and sold out in 1974 to a partnership headed by developer Trammell Crow of Dallas. Dale Perkinson, president of Linclay, was to have had sites for industrial and office buildings, stores, apartments, lakes, bike trails, a swimming pool, a golf course and riding stables. You have to assume it's not economically feasible as apartments. The land was zoned for apartments for 10 years and not one person came forward to develop it. William Newbold, attorney for Ford Motor Credit. Ford Motor Credit's proposal would eliminate all residentially zoned property from the development. The 1,300-acre development, begun in 1970 by the Linclay Corp., was to have been a city within a city, with a daytime population of 35,000 and 12,000 permanent residents.
