ST. LOUIS — Aerospace giant Boeing on Wednesday moved one step closer to securing the land it needs for a secret, $1.8 billion megaproject at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
The Board of Estimate and Apportionment, the city’s top fiscal body, unanimously approved plans to lease the company roughly 160 acres at a cost of at least $2.6 million per year for 17 years. Boeing would have options to continue the lease in five-year increments through 2070.
The land is where Arlington, Virginia-based Boeing is hoping to build new advanced manufacturing facilities to produce what it calls “future franchise programs.†That could include all-important next-generation fighter jets for the Pentagon — the Air Force is scheduled to award the contract for those planes .
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A top airport official indicated earlier this month that an unfavorable decision by the Department of Defense in the near future would be a deal-killer. The lease contracts would allow Boeing to opt out any time before 2026.
The lease now moves to the Board of Aldermen for further consideration. Aldermen return from their summer break next month.
Boeing is also seeking tax abatements from St. Louis County on the project, which could save the company upwards of $155 million over 10 years.
Boeing has said it will hire 500 new workers for the project, which will in turn create more than 1,000 new jobs at other companies in the region.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGE: St. Louis was one of the nation's slowest-growing metro areas over the past decade. Jim Gallagher argues that we should worry more about quality of life, but David Nicklaus counters that the area can't prosper without growth.
