CHESTERFIELD, Mo. – Last year, affiliate FOX 2 reported on hundreds of Tesla vehicles parked outside the Chesterfield Mall, just months before the mall officially closed and demolition began.
So what happened to all of those Teslas?
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, a sprawling parking lot. And that’s where hundreds of Teslas are now parked.
The Staenberg Group, one of the partners leading the mall’s demolition and redevelopment, says 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 FOX 2.
Lowe says the Dillard’s lot has recently held anywhere from 200-400 Tesla vehicles at a time.
The parked vehicles include a variety of models in red, dark blue, gray, white and black colors. Among them are dozens of Tesla Cybertrucks, a 2023 model with a triangular look and flat stainless steel panels that the company compares to a full-sized pickup truck.
The Teslas will likely remain there until Dillard’s begins renovations with long-term plans to reopen the store, FOX 2 has learned.
Michael Staenberg, president of The Staenberg Group, says Tesla is around six months into a lease, with around 16 months remaining, to keep 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. Some entry points are also blocked off with orange traffic cones.
Tesla, Inc. is known for its battery-powered electric vehicles. Elon Musk, a billionaire with ties to U.S. President Donald Trump and the chairman of the X social media platform, has served as the Tesla CEO since 2008.
FOX 2 has reached out to a Tesla press communications line for comment on the parked vehicles, but we have yet to hear back as of this story’s publication.
