Mayor Slay Highlights Benefits of North St. Louis Site for NGA West

ST. LOUIS -- Today closes out a month-long public comment period on National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Director Robert Cardillo's preferred site selection of north St. Louis to construct a new $1.75 billion campus.

As cited in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, Director Cardillo outlined reasons for choosing St. Louis as NGA's preferred location, including: environmental, cost and policy advantages; partnerships with universities and innovative, technology-based companies; the ability to recruit new talent based on the environment the City offers; and proximity to its data facilities and current and future workforce.

The north St. Louis site was selected as the agency-preferred location over two sites in St. Louis County and one in St. Clair County, Illinois, near Scott Air Force Base.

As part of the public comment record, Mayor Francis Slay wrote a letter* to Director Cardillo restating the City's commitment to providing the NGA a project site that meets all expectations and is ready for construction and that best supports the NGA's critical national security mission and broad customer base.

St. Louis Development Corporation Executive Director Otis Williams also penned a letter* in response to the Illinois delegation's letter to Director Cardillo to point out inaccuracies. Nothing offered up during the public comment period has appeared to be of any significance warranting reconsideration of the preliminary decision.

The NGA is expected to render its final Record of Decision sometime early next month.

About the Project

The NGA is expected to begin building a $1.75 billion facility in 2017 to move its 3,100 employees. As outlined in the final edition briefing book, the City of St. Louis location is a well-connected, 99-acre urban site at the intersection of N. Jefferson and Cass Avenues offered to the NGA at no cost. The Next NGA West video highlights how St. Louis will continue to help the NGA meet its mission, just as it has done for the past 72 years.

The proposed NGA site is located within a federally-designated Promise Zone and Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) initiative.

The City's project garnered prominent letters of support, including those from U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill, Roy Blunt, and Kit Bond (retired), Gov. Jay Nixon, St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, and the NAACP and AFL-CIO, to name a few.

*Mayor Slay's and Otis Williams's letters to Director Cardillo are below.

Related Resources

• Mayor Slay Letter to NGA Director
• Otis Williams Letter to Director Cardillo