"Project Jasper" to be Revealed Tuesday - Bringing Up to 1500 Jobs for State
Monday, June 9th, 2014
After almost a decade of planning and negotiations, the City of Forest Park will sign the closing papers tomorrow to purchase nearly 800 acres of Fort Gillem. That is when the City will finally reveal the name of its tenant.
It has been called “Project Jasper” for the last couple of years. In order to buy the property from the U.S. Army, Forest Park needed a developer -- a big one.
City Manager Frank Brandon says a Fortune 500 big box store will be setting up shop on some 300 acres of the tract the City is buying. “They’ll be building a $250 million distribution center,” said Brandon. “And initially, it will create 750 to 1000 jobs, and they’ve planned expansion which could possibly increase it to more than 1500 jobs.”
