Residents in the ”highly distressed” neighborhoods near the $1.7 billion under-construction facility for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency will be polled starting in the coming weeks about what type of ancillary development will best serve the needs of the residents and its newest occupant.
The four-day gathering held this week has been described as the largest annual gathering of geospatial intelligence professionals in the U.S.
Neal Richardson, executive director of the St. Louis Development Corporation, spoke about seeking public input, and about guarding against displacing current residents, at a panel discussion Wednesday at The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation’s 2021 Symposium at the America’s Center.
The four-day gathering held this week has been described as the largest annual gathering of geospatial intelligence professionals in the U.S.
The five-member panel was one of several sessions focused on the geospatial industry in the St. Louis metro area, especially the complex taking shape in north St. Louis, near the intersection of Jefferson and Cass avenues.
The facility, which is expected to be ready for workers in 2025, represents the largest federal investment project in the history of St. Louis, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which is managing the project along with McCarthy HITT Joint Venture. The U.S. Air Force owns the 97-acre site.
Called The Next NGA West complex, the development will include about 712,000 square foot office space, along with parking garages, and a visitor center, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. And it will impact six historic nearby neighborhoods including St. Louis Place, Old North and Hyde Park.
“We will start there with the neighborhood planning process,” said Richardson, noting that parts of the area are home to many low-income residents. “We will begin engaging the current residents and businesses that live in the area, as well as other institutions, including NGA, and we will be designing neighborhood plans around what the residents … want to see.”
The planning process will include public meetings and will address everything from infrastructure to affordable housing and employment opportunities.
“We also must make sure that we do not displace those individuals who have been committed to” the city, Richardson said.
Commerce in the area around the new campus now is scarce. The current neighbors are largely schools and churches, with the occasional boarded-up home.
Chris Gebben’s great grandfather started U.S. Wiping Materials, which makes and distributes cleaning supplies, 106 years ago.
Gebben predicts that at some point new restaurants and hotels will pop up in the area.
“The people who work there are going to need a place to eat and the people coming from out of town will need a place to stay,” said Gebben, who doesn’t foresee a big impact on his business.
“I can’t imagine they won’t start building,” those amenities, he said. “That’ll make the neighborhood better.”
About 3,100 workers now at an NGA facility on 2nd street will move to the new campus, meaning most of the early jobs at the new site will come from attrition rather than a large creation of new jobs. The ethnic breakdown of the current NGA St. Louis workforce was not immediately available.
Of the roughly 450 construction workers on-site now, about 18% are people of color, according to a presentation at the construction site.
There also are at least four portions of the massive building project – including construction of two parking garages and a visitors center – have been set aside for small businesses.
The symposium comes weeks after the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency launched a second cohort for its St. Louis-based accelerator. The program, which attracts applicants from across the country, is designed to help the agency work more closely with the growing geospatial “ecosystem.” Each company selected to participate in the accelerator receives a $100,000 non-equity grant.
So far, the program has included one Missouri and one St. Louis-based startup,
Officials did not have demographic information on the participants so far but Christine Woodard, ecosystem engagement lead with the NGA office in St. Louis said Wednesday that for the coming third cohort “we’re looking at options for increasing diversity.”
Karen Robinson-Jacobs is The St. Louis American / Type Investigations business reporter and a Report for America corps member.