Posts Tagged ‘Kinloch’

Under construction at Evans and Hanley in the NorthPark development, this building will house Express Scripts' new distribution facility.

It has been a very good month for commercial real estate development in North County. First, Express Scripts ended a cross-country battle for its proposed distribution facility by deciding that NoCo, not suburban Philadelphia, would be the site of its new plant. Then today, Lambert Airport announced that it will soon sign a deal with Maryland-based AeroTerm LLC to build 76 acres of new cargo centers just north of the runways.

The new Express Scripts facility will employ 300 workers and process up to 110,000 prescriptions every day. It’s expected to open in the spring. The new cargo buildings will amount to at least $40 million in local investment, and hopefully play a key role in Lambert’s plan to attract Chinese air freight carriers to the airport area.

Paul McKee, whose company McEagle is co-developing NorthPark, the 550-acre business park at Hanley Road and Hwy 70 where the new Express Scripts plant is being built, has said that luring Chinese cargo business to Lambert is vital to the success of his project, as well as the economic future of North County.

If you drive on Hanley Road through Kinloch, you can’t help but notice the large vegetable garden that sprawls over several acres near Bradfield Drive. This tapestry of individual plots rests on land owned by Lambert Airport, but it has been meticulous maintained for decades by a group of locals who call themselves the Garden Boys.

Most are retired, and all produce a bounty of crops despite working directly under a very noisy flight path. Even in the winter months, the Boys meet at the site to play dominos and share a home-cooked meal, often inside the wooden shack they built themselves. They also donate much of the food they grow to needy families.

Photographer Deborah Weinstein has been documenting the group for several years and recently shared some of her photos with the St. Louis Beacon, for an article on how the NorthPark development was trying to bully the Garden Boys off of land that NorthPark doesn’t actually own. Nice.

Weinstein also produced a great audio/photo essay for CNN on the Garden Boys, who amazingly carry in all their own water! It’s a neat glimpse at a little NoCo slice of life. Don’t miss it!

Kinloch's very own Klingon: John Cothran Jr.

Trekkies, brace yourselves. North County gave birth to a Klingon!

John Cothran Jr., a Kinloch native and successful Hollywood actor, performed in not one, not two, but three Star Trek series. Twice he has played a Klingon.

Cothran has also appeared in numerous TV shows and well-known films, including Grey’s Anatomy, Medium, and Boyz in the Hood. He got his start acting in the spring musical at Holy Angels School in Kinloch, and now lives in Los Angeles.

Bravo, John! We’ll watch for you in your latest film, The Perfect Game, and send you lots of NoCo love!