St. Louis Regional Airport Economic Development Plan

Details

Category: Comprehensive Plans

Through ongoing expansion, development and improvements, what began as a small sod runway and storage facility in 1946, has grown to its current 2,300 acres and is today the 4th largest airport facility in the state of Illinois. Valued in excess of $60 million, St. Louis Regional Airport is a strong player in the Madison County’s economic picture and a focal point of business and recreational activity in the region. With this understanding, the Airport hired Moran Economic Development to further promote and encourage new retail, aeronautical, industrial and office uses to the Airport property in Bethalto, Illinois.

We developed a comprehensive economic development plan that outlined the following:

1. Moran identified the competitive advantages and disadvantages of the Airport area and provided information and marketed the Airport to prospective or existing businesses that are considering location or expansion. Moran also created site search proposals for national and statewide site consultants interested in the Airport and surrounding community.
2. Moran assisted in identifying and regularly tracking the progress of key industry sectors or clusters at the Airport. This allowed the airport to organize their economic development activities to understand industry linkages and support industry clusters relating to the type of development the Airport Board and surrounding communities wanted for this area.

Analyzing how economics, land use, and demographics are related is essential to recruiting new users to a community. Understanding how these applications work is helpful in creating goals and objectives for a comprehensive plan. By outlining the economic development activities for the Airport, the Airport is now well suited for business attraction efforts.