The National Geospatial Agency (NGA) has launched plans for a new campus in the heart of Downtown North, as members of CCIM-St. Louis learned in a recent online session entitled “NGA Headquarters and Impact on the Surrounding Area.”
Chapter president Tiffany Wiegers thanked sponsors and program hosts Ben Cherry, Tony Kennedy, Andrea Kendrick and Tom Ray. Cherry, president of Manor Real Estate, introduced panelists and moderated the session, which featured Sue Pollmann, director of NGA West; John Berglund, founding member of Downtown North and managing partner in the Starwood Group; and Paul McKee, Jr., founder of M Properties Services LLC (MPS).
The NGA’s new building is part of a 97-acre campus, bounded by St. Louis Avenue, Cass, Jefferson-Parnell, and Second Street.
“The acreage gives us somewhat of a secure perimeter,” Pollmann said.
The greatest challenge is to accommodate both classified and unclassified uses and personnel working under the same roof.
“We are partnering with organizations we haven’t worked with in the past. We need a space where we can work in the open even though the facility has to be secure. We have to be flexible in case we have to change uses in the future.”
Sustainability is also important. The NGA’s current building went up in 1918. Now, “we are building for the next 100 years — to be as lasting.”
The project is guided by an internal steering committee as part of efforts to maintain touchpoints, avoid duplicating efforts and communicating. “The site has a high degree of energy, with educational and corporate entities involved to enhance our mission,” Pollmann said.
The NGA aims to be a good neighbor by including the neighborhood in its planning and keeping communications open. The project will include a visitor center as part of that goal. The new building will pay homage to the history of the neighborhood by including a feature wall in the lobby made of bricks from the Buster Brown Building.
Amenities will include the Brick Line bike paths, which she said employees are very excited about.
Partners include McCarthy HITT (project architect) and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Navy, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, City of St. Louis, State of Missouri and Patriot Group International. A series of other contractors will be brought in to handle the technology aspects of the project.
The city has provided infrastructure and street improvements, Pollmann said. The Urban Land Institute has also been a great help, Berglund said.
As Berglund explained, Downtown North has the mission to “attract, create and grow technology-advanced companies; revitalize the district’s buildings and public spaces; and ensure a diverse and equitable platform for success in the district.” Primary goals are accelerating job creation; recruiting and acquiring talent for business enterprise, research, academic support and NGA contractors; and development, including creating a community that is pedestrian-focused and safe.
Timeline milestones are for foundations and walls, structural steel, the building enclosure, and the approved IT design plan to be in place between 2021 and 2022; interior buildout, building systems and finishes, and landscaping construction done in 2023; IT systems installed and testing in 2024; and move-in to happen in 2025.
The Moonshot Lab will launch officially at T-Rex in July. Pollmann said the project is on schedule, with monthly aerial images used to track progress as well as create a history of the process for building facility professionals.
N2W, as part of the project is known, is “a means of achieving the NGA Moonshot and [its] Mission imperatives.” The goal is for N2W to become a Geospatial Gateway to the World by 2025.
It is not yet known what will happen to the current NGA site at Second Street. The Air Force owns the Arsenal complex and is expected to turn it over to the General Services Administration (GSA) for the divestment process.
Berglund said the NGA will be part of a Downtown Innovation District, which started essentially with business concerns about parking. It encompasses 110 acres and a combination of civic, private and nonprofit interests.
Among the NGA’s neighbors in the district will be Square, which Berglund said should move into the former St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper building over this summer. Square undertook a historic renovation that involved “reskinning” the building, rather than build a new addition. “Square is a spark and an anchor,” Berglund said. “Our goal is intelligence and technology; to attract new businesses and jobs. We aren’t interested in gentrification, but in revitalizing buildings and public spaces, and ensuring diversity. We’re optimistic. It’s an interesting mix of public and private interests, and we’re still working on the master plan. This is a 20-year idea. We’re in it for the long run.”
What is happening now is part of a journey that began about 19 years ago, according to McKee. “There’s $2.1 billion in construction going on currently,” he said. “The North Side is regenerating.”
Projects include a Greenleaf Market under a contract with a local family and a Zoom gas station, creating 67 jobs.
Long-time St. Louisans will remember the area as the site of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing development. Portions of its 34 acres will include offices and a conference center, garage, sports medicine facility, research institute, performance area, student housing, a new iteration of Homer Phillips Hospital as the teaching arm of the Ponce Health Sciences University medical school expansion, which is the largest behavioral health institution in the country and averages 40 percent minority students.
The site will also include a new carpenters’ union training center for more than 2,000 students a year. MPS is working with Lamar Johnson Collaborative and Clayco on the design. An apartment building with more than 200 units will also be built.
“The plan is for multiple uses. It’s very alive. There’s a lot going on at all times,” said McKee.
“We do a pretty good job of retaining people — it’s a big deal for us to work with the community,” Pollmann said. “A lot of our jobs are very technical. It’s important to connect with schoolchildren so they become interested.”
The NGA is working with Harris Stowe University, the University of Missouri-St. Louis and St. Louis University to develop teachers - especially in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
These efforts are important to the businesses that are part of this overall effort. The NGA has about 3,100 employees. Square currently has about 500 and expects to grow to 1,200 in the next two to three years.
“St. Louis is poised to become the geospatial center of the world,” Pollman said.