Article: Flood plain developers dare nature.

Byline: Tim Jones

Oct. 11--CHESTERFIELD, Mo. -- The longest outdoor strip mall in America starts with Target and, more than a mile later, finishes with Home Depot and a 14-theater multiplex, all on farmland that in 1993 was under 15 feet of brown Missouri River water.

On the strength of a new levee and a fervent belief that disaster will not strike again, the retail franchise nirvana known as Chesterfield Commons lies in the flood plain, practically daring the Missouri to give the reinforced levee its best shot.

This mall is the most conspicuous wager in a more-than $2 billion regional development gamble by St. Louis-area suburbs that were ...

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