Research Park Adds Tenant
By William Flannery
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
May 22, 1991
MG Industries Inc., a major producer of industrial gases, announced Tuesday that it will move the national headquarters of its applied technology group to the Missouri Research Park in St. Charles County.
''The Missouri Research Park represents a perfect mix of government, industry and educational cooperation to attract progressive industry to the area,'' MGI General Manager David Hearst said.
The applied technology group is now in Philadelphia.
MGI will build a 20,000-square-foot building, with construction expected to take about nine months. Trammell Crow Co. and R.W. Murray Co. will design and build the facility.
The company expects to begin operations here with 30 to 40 scientists, engineers and technicians.
MGI is the U.S. subsidiary of Messer Griesheim GmbH of Frankfurt, Germany, which has 7,800 employees worldwide and annual sales of $1.5 billion.
MGI has 28 plants around the nation producing compressed gases for industrial and medical use, including liquid helium, nitrogen, oxygen and argon.
Rick Finholt, executive director of the research park, said MGI is the second major firm in a month to decide to relocate there.
Zoltek Corp., a manufacturer of specialized carbon fibers for the areospace industry, is moving to St. Charles from Lowell, Mass.
Zoltek ''is building a 90,000-square-foot building,'' Finholt said. ''They started construction this month and it should be completed by September.''
Finholt said Zoltek will employ about 100 people.
The 750-acre Missouri Research Park is owned and operated by the University of Missouri. The park is at highways 40 and 94 near the Missouri River in south St. Charles County.
The park was developed in cooperation with the Missouri State Department of Economic Development, the St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth Association and Trammell Crow.
The park is designed to attract companies that want to take advantage of the research facilities of universities in the St. Louis area.
