$100 million archive saves 800 local jobs
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
by Brett Lohmeyer
June 2, 2010
Ground was broken Wednesday for a new National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) on Dunn Road in north St. Louis County. St. Louis city leaders claim the new facility will keep 800 jobs in the area.
The national archive was in jeopardy of leaving the St. Louis region, but many local leaders created a nonpartisan coalition to keep the archive in St. Louis. Many of those who worked to keep the facility in St. Louis were at the event including U.S. Senator Kit Bond, Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley.
Bond stressed that the new facility, the jobs it will retain and the jobs its construction will create are the direct result of a partnership by many individuals and organizations including Governor Jay Nixon, Clay, Dooley and the St. Louis County Economic Council.
According to Bond, the $100 million, high-performance facility will be the largest records facility in the country, outside of the Washington, D.C. area, and will ensure nearly 800 jobs will remain in St. Louis.
"This facility will retain nearly 800 good-paying jobs in St. Louis, not to mention the good-paying construction jobs the project creates," Bond said. "It is the personnel record treasure-chest for our veterans, former federal employees, and family members. And, it will be utilized appropriately by researchers and historians."
The new NRPC will be on Dunn Road in north St. Louis County and it will replace the current military archive in St. Louis located at Page Avenue.
According to NPRC officials, the new archive will be one of the most complex construction projects ever undertaken in St. Louis County. The facility will be 474,690 square-foot and meet the U.S Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification requirements. It is expected to be fully staffed sometime in 2012.
The NPRC is the repository for millions of military personnel, health, and medical records of discharged and deceased veterans of all services after WWI. Previous records are kept at the Washington, DC archive.
