This article original comes from the Belleville News-Democrat on April 10, 2026
America’s Central Port in Granite City has been awarded a $5 million state grant to help it buy 350 acres of metro-east farmland that could become a rail-served industrial “megasite.” The term “rail-served” is key, according to Dennis Wilmsmeyer, executive director of the port, a special governmental unit that operates a logistics hub along the Mississippi River and promotes economic development throughout southwestern Illinois.
Wilmsmeyer said St. Louis and the metro-east are “deficient” in the number of large parcels of available land with on-site or nearby access to railroads for product shipping, and that’s what some manufacturers need to build plants that create high-paying jobs.
“The St. Louis region used to be the No. 1 rail center in the country back 100-plus years ago, and we’ve been bypassed and left behind (in manufacturing) because we kind of turned our back on rail,” he said.
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