DECATUR, Ill (WAND) – From tire manufacturing to industrial park. Final demolition is underway of the old Firestone plant on N. 22nd Street in Decatur. It clears the way for the continued development of the property which is now called Commerce Park.
Firestone ceased operations in late 2001 a year after a massive recall of hundreds of thousands of tires. The closure cost nearly 14-hundred workers their jobs.
The section of the plant being demolished currently is the front section where administrative offices were located. The tire production areas of the plant were torn down previously.
Nicole Bateman of the Economic Development Corporation says the industrial park has most of the infrastructure a business would need including rail, water, sewers and natural gas. It is also located near two class one railroads, Norfolk Southern and Canadian National, along with two short line railroads. It is also close to the Decatur airport.
Bateman says the property would be a good fit for light manufacturing such as an electric vehicle plant or making components for that industry.
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