ST. LOUIS – It’s official. Two months after the April 1 decision by the National-Geospatial Agency (NGA) to build a new $1.75 billion campus in North St. Louis, the NGA finalized the deal Thursday with a record of decision.
Top officials of St. Louis and Missouri thanked NGA Director Robert Cardillo for closing discussion on the issue, even after lawmakers from Illinois made attempts to sway the director from his final decision. A competing site in Illinois, located near the Scott Air Force base was touted as a better option by many in Missouri’s neighboring state, given its proximity to a more secure complex.
“I could not be more pleased with the plans Director Cardillo shared about the NGA’s future in the City of St. Louis,” Mayor Francis Slay said in a statement. “I am certain that the construction of a state-of-the-art intelligence agency in north St. Louis will have an immense impact. The NGA has expressed its commitment to connecting with its new community, partnering with local schools, creating a campus seamlessly integrated with the neighborhood, and working with us on surrounding development.”
The current site employs over 3,000 people, and the new campus is expected to bring more jobs to a part of St. Louis that lacks the employment opportunities that other areas in the region offer.
“Not only will Missouri remain home to one of our nation’s most important intelligence agencies, but soon a new state-of-the-art facility will revitalize and transform a blighted area into a safe and vibrant neighborhood,” Nixon said. “Today’s final decision by the NGA to stay and expand in St. Louis is a shining testament to this region’s vitality, competitiveness, and its people – the hardest working, most innovative men and women in the world.”
In his statement, Slay also praised the bipartisan group of Missouri officials that fought to retain the NGA. The St. Louis area’s two Congressional representatives, Lacy Clay and Ann Wagner, and both U.S. Sens. Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt lobbied in Washington to for Missouri to keep the NGA.
“NGA made the right call, both for the agency and for St. Louis,” McCaskill said in a statement. “St. Louis competed on merit and came out ahead, and it’s going to mean a boon to a community that’s already making enormous economic strides. This is what sustained, bipartisan cooperation can look like for Missouri, and for our national security.”
Blunt agreed.
“Missouri has supported the NGA’s critical mission for more than 70 years, and I’m proud that we will continue doing so for decades to come,” Blunt said. “With today’s decision, the NGA has rightly acknowledged the numerous benefits St. Louis provides to the current and future generation of intelligence professionals.”
With the confirmation completed, the city will now begin to ask residents to contribute their own design ideas as well as finalizing property acquisition.
Construction is set to begin in late 2017.
