Bond breaks ground for new National Archives and Records Administration facility in St. Louis
Office of Senator Kit Bond
June 2, 2010
St. Louis, Mo. -U.S. Senator Kit Bond, Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and other government, community and business leaders today took part in the groundbreaking ceremony for the U.S. General Services Administration's new National Archives and Records Administration Facility to be constructed at 1829 Dunn Road in northeast St. Louis County.
"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."
In his remarks, 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 Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, Congressman Clay, County Executive Dooley, the St. Louis County Economic Council, the General Services Administration (GSA) and the National Archives and Records Administration. Bond, who played a central role in ensuring the site selected for the new facility remained in St. Louis County, also pointed out that this collaborative effort and the leadership of the late civic and business leader Johnny Londoff, who previously owned the land on which the facility will be built, was essential to ensuring this national treasure-chest remained in the heartland.
The $100 million, high-performance facility will be the largest records facility in the country outside of the Washington, D.C. area and is one of the most complex construction projects ever undertaken in St. Louis County. When complete, the facility will act as the central repository for millions of military personnel, health and medical records for all deceased and discharged veterans who served during the 20th century post-World War I. In addition to housing the military records of famous veterans like Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, Elvis Pressley, and sports legends like Roberto Clemente and Jackie Robinson, the facility will also house the records of civil service employees and other related records. As well as housing essential military and civil service records, the building will also provide office space for 14 other federal government and defense agencies.
Designed to meet the U.S Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification requirements, the 474,690 square-foot building will house archives currently stored in other aging and outdated GSA-owned facilities. The receive LEED certification one must demonstrate that a building was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving energy and water efficiency, carbon dioxide emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and an efficient use of environmental resources.
In nearly 24 years in the Senate, Bond has established a long record of working on a bipartisan basis with Missouri leaders and the GSA to ensure federal facilities and the jobs housed within them remain in Missouri. The groundbreaking today comes on the heels of another major victory when earlier this year federal officials committed to replacing the dilapidated Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City with a new building in the city's downtown.
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