St. Louis Intelligence Facility Nears Completion
Date Posted: August 15, 2024
Posted In: Projects,
From Construction Equipment Guide: The Department of Defense (DOD) recognized the need for a complete overhaul and called on the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to build a new secure campus. The first two team members were in place, but they had to decide where to build the facility.
Several communities bid for the project, but St. Louis won by securing and remediating a 97-acre plot in north St. Louis. The area was economically depressed. The NGA project promises to bring some 3,100 full-time workers to the facility.
Once the location was selected, McCarthy HITT, a St. Louis-based joint venture, was selected as the design-build firm. More subcontractors were selected, about 100 in all, and the work began under the watchful eye of NGA. The agency kept a close look at materials, personnel and design for the facility to ensure security.
The project began in 2019 and has utilized a workforce that is just under 15 percent minority-owned contractors and nearly 7 percent women-owned companies.
Former Congressman William Lacy Clay calls the new NGA site “an oasis growing out of the desert. Hopefully, this sets an example to invest in an area that had previously never been invested in my lifetime.”
The DOD is spending $1.7 billion to make this oasis a reality. The USACE is developing a project that carries some unusual requirements. The three-story structure must meet military standards for blast resistance and uninterruptible power. Much of the building needed to be built to sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) standards. The 16-in.-thick concrete walls were made in a secure facility by Enterprise Precast in Omaha, Neb.