Up-and-coming Springfield industrial park awarded certified site designation

A planned industrial park on hundreds of acres of northwest Queen City land owned by Springfield Underground parent company Erlen Group has been designated as a certified site by BNSF Railway Co.

Erlen Group Chief Financial Officer Christina Angle spoke about the designation and the industrial park in an interview yesterday with Springfield Business Journal Executive Editor Christine Temple. Angle participated in SBJ's 12 People You Need to Know interview series at The Backlot, Alamo Drafthouse Springfield's restaurant and bar.

The site is generally located north of Chestnut Expressway and west of Haseltine Road. It’s just south of the newly constructed Greene County Sheriff's Office and Jail and farther south from the Springfield-Branson National Airport.

"We've got an active quarry on the west side of town. That's 700 acres. We are actively mining over there," Angle said, noting the quarry operation is called Westside Stone Co. "BNSF has certified 186 of those acres as an industrial park."

A Dec. 16 news release from BNSF states the Springfield industrial area known as Moon Light was one of four U.S. locations designated as a certified site by the railroad company. The company has around 40 certified sites, including the others announced this week in the Washington cities of Everett, Plymouth and Spokane.

"We're excited to announce these four new locations to our growing list of certified sites across BNSF's vast network," said Chris Danos, BNSF's assistant vice president of economic development, in the release. "These sites enable our customers to enhance their service offerings by leveraging the benefits of rail, while significantly reducing the time it would take to construct new facilities."

Angle said the site certification process took months, with BNSF bringing in a consultant to analyze the acreage. The BNSF release notes that potential certified sites must be evaluated for environmental and geotechnical standards, available utilities, site availability, and existing and proposed infrastructure with the goal of creating "a catalog of rail-served sites that are ready for immediate development."

"We own it, but BNSF has their rail located right there," Angle said. "That's a really key part to site readiness, and it's a really attractive feature."

A document posted online earlier this year by the Missouri Partnership public-private economic development organization indicates the Moon Light site at 1040 Airport Blvd. is situated near major highways and BNSF railway, with utilities available via City Utilities of Springfield and telecommunications through SpringNet.

On the northeast side of Springfield, Erlen Group is working to develop the surface of Springfield Underground for commercial purposes, according to past reporting.