Emerald Automotive Expects Private Investors to Fund Global Headquarters in Hazelwood

Though it went against the company’s original plan, Emerald Automotive said in August that it withdrew its application for a controversial Department of Energy loan program, but that it’s still on track financially to build its Hazelwood factory, according to a report from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“No one ever said that loan program was very quick, and we have several interested parties who want to move ahead,” Gary Marble, Emerald's communications director, told the Post-Dispatch. “Interest from the investor community has been really good. Some of it is time-sensitive.”

Andy Tempest, Emerald’s CEO, said last week that he’s getting closer to deals with some big European fleet customers and that the company should be able to break ground in Hazelwood next year as planned.

The Post reports that Jim McKelvey, a St. Louisan who helped found a mobile payment service called Square, Inc., said that many likely investors are skeptical after other green car startups have struggled in the U.S.

“Timing was tough in the U.S.,” he told the Post-Dispatch. “A bunch of other companies that didn't know how to do this went under. We've kind of had to climb over their bodies to present Emerald.”

The company is looking at three different sites in Hazelwood, two of which include the Aviator Business Park and the Hazelwood Logistics Center. The company will build new and wants a location that has room to expand.

“We see this as our global headquarters,” he said. “We don't want to be in some old shed.”

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