State awards tax credits for National Archives center here
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
07.09.2009 5:21 pm
By: Tim Bryant
Authorization today of $5.5 million in Missouri tax credits opens the way for construction to begin in north St. Louis County of the $102 million National Archives and Records Administration facility that will replace the National Personnel Records Center, in Overland.
The project will preserve 791 jobs in the St. Louis area, said John Fougere, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Economic Development.
The Missouri Development Finance Board voted 8-0 to authorize the tax credits, called BUILD Missouri bonds, for the project. The approximately 500,000-square-foot archives facility will be built on a 23-acre site on Dunn Road.
Military records of 56 million Americans, including John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower-and Elvis!-are on file at the center in Overland. Those records will be moved to the new facility, which could open next year. Barry Real Estate Cos. of Atlanta is the developer.
Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., said in 2007 that the government's decision then to keep the records center in the area was good for St. Louis County. The General Services Administration had considered moving the records facility to cave sites in southern Illinois or others near Kansas City, Clay said.
