Officials in the city of St. Louis are moving forward with a plan to mortgage two city buildings in a move to come up with funding critical to keeping National Geospatial Intelligence Agency facilities in the city.
The $20 million expected from the deal would allow the city to purchase and assemble a roughly 100-acre area where NGA could potentially build its new western headquarters. NGA has said it wants to maintain the western headquarters in the St. Louis area, but also is eyeing sites close to Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and in St. Louis County, outside the city, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The current location is said to be outdated and no longer suited to NGA's high-tech missions in mapping and intelligence support. Currently, the NGA facilities in St. Louis employ about 3,100 people – jobs the city is pushing hard to retain.
The decision to move forward with the $20 million deal, which involves land just north of the downtown area, was approved by city officials on July 10.
