Page 100 - FDI Alliance International Magazine. Spring 2021 Digital Interactive Issue

DARDENNE PRAIRIE

DARDENNE PRAIRIE OVERVIEW community, manufacturing investment and jobs Meanwhile, the company itself transitioned their
continue to be strengths for St. Charles County. building applications for more virtual events.
The future looks incredibly bright from the vantage While those kinds of events have always been
point of Dardenne Prairie, a progressive, suburban PANDEMIC RECOVERY part of their traditional business operations, they
city located along the I-64 High-Tech Corridor in fast- now make-up the predominant component for
growing St. Charles County, Missouri. St. Charles County weathered the COVID-19 current events.
pandemic remarkably well even though sectors like
MAJOR EMPLOYERS hospitality and travel are still struggling. For instance, the As far as the future is concerned, USI executives
region is outpacing state and national employment believe events will return to face-to-face because they
The High-Tech Corridor is home to seven data numbers, with a return to pre-COVID levels. offer too much value over a purely virtual format.
centers for regional and global giants, including
Citigroup, MasterCard Worldwide, Enterprise Another sign of the local community’s resilience, REGIONAL POPULATION GROWTH LEADER
Holdings, Centene, Verizon, and SSM St. Joseph despite the challenging economy, was the record
Healthcare. IT skills are highly sought after by these number of single-family and multi-family building Located just 30 minutes from downtown St.
employers, which the region has addressed by permits issued in 2020. St. Charles County typically Louis, St. Charles County also offers easy access
bolstering IT career training programs, as well as local accounts for about 40% of all new single-family to world-class regional attractions such as the
STEM education initiatives with schools and colleges. housing construction in the St. Louis region, and Gateway Arch, the St. Louis Blues and the St.
last year the community issued 1,778 permits, its Louis Cardinals. The County is home to 50,000
Other major employers in the area include Amazon, highest since 2007. Similarly, over 1,000 multi- acres of public parkland, including the starting
which employs more than 5,400 workers at its local family units were permitted in 2020, a record not point for the Katy Trail, a public trail that runs the
fulfillment center. Amazon is also preparing to open matched since 2004. entire width of the State of Missouri. The community
an additional 142,600-square-foot facility that will also has safe neighborhoods and an excellent
serve as a last-mile delivery center. Businesses in Dardenne Prairie, like elsewhere public school system. As a result, the St. Charles
through the country, have transitioned their County and Dardenne Prairie are desirable places for
In addition, one of General Motors’ most productive business to remain viable. One such example families, young professionals, and employers.
assembly plants has operated in St. Charles County is Ungerboeck Software International (USI), the
since the 1980’s. GM’s St. Charles County facility world’s leading event technology platform trusted Not surprisingly, the local community has long
is undergoing a $1.5 billion renovation and by over 50,000 event professionals in more than been recognized as the fastest-growing county
expansion, the largest private business investment in 50 countries. For a high-tech company like USI, in Missouri and in metro St. Louis, adding an
the history of Missouri. employees operated from home rather than being average of 5,000 new residents annually.
in an office. Some employees had to upgrade
In combination with a $70 million expansion by their home IT capabilities, but the work-from-home Data from the US Census Bureau’s five-year
The Boeing Company on the other side of the methodology has proven effective. American Community Survey released in late

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