Last year, months before the mall in Chesterfield, Missouri, was set to close and demolition began, residents noticed hundreds of Tesla vehicles parked in the lot.
One of the few structures still standing after the mall’s mass demolition is a Dillard’s on the west side of the former mall grounds. In front of it is a sprawling parking lot where hundreds of Teslas are parked.
The parked vehicles include a variety of models in red, dark blue, gray, white, and black colors; among them are dozens of Tesla Cybertrucks.
But why are all of these Teslas parked outside a Dillard’s that is no longer open?
The Staenberg Group, one of the partners leading the mall’s demolition and redevelopment, told KTLA sister station KTVI that it’s part of a continuation of a lease that originally began before the mall shut its doors last August.
“Tesla has a short-term lease to park Tesla cars at Chesterfield Mall; we relocated them to the Dillard’s parcel when we started mall demolition,” said Tim Lowe, senior vice president of leasing and development for The Staenberg Group, in a statement to KTVI.
Lowe says the Dillard’s lot has recently held anywhere from 200 to 400 Tesla vehicles at a time.
The Teslas will likely remain there until Dillard’s begins renovations with long-term plans to reopen the store, KTVI learned.
Michael Staenberg, president of The Staenberg Group, says Tesla is around six months into a roughly 32-month lease, keeping vehicles parked outside the Dillard’s.
Tesla’s nearest dealership is three miles away from the mall on Chesterfield Airport Road, just west of a shopping center with several retailers. Staenberg says the dealership currently does not have enough space to park its entire inventory, so the Dillard’s parking lot serves as a temporary overflow site.
Staenberg says security has not been a major issue. The Staenberg Group has installed security cameras to monitor activity and directs workers to patrol the grounds, and some entry points are also blocked off with orange traffic cones.
KTVI reached out to a Tesla press communications line for comment on the parked vehicles but did not immediately receive a response.
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