ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The St. Louis County Council voted Tuesday to move ahead with a tax incentive proposal for the $1.8 billion expansion project by aerospace giant Boeing.
The proposal will have to go through the bill process. If passed by the council, it would head to County Executive Sam Page's desk. Final approval could take weeks.
Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway was the lone dissenting vote. Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, who is an engineer at Boeing, abstained.
The Boeing expansion would create 500 new jobs over several years and consist of new buildings in Berkeley and in unincorporated St. Louis county next to St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
On Aug. 8, the airport signed an official ground lease and development agreement with Boeing. The agreement allows Boeing to lease and redevelop certain areas of the airport grounds adjacent to the airfield for a multiphase aeronautical manufacturing project for up to 47 years.
Under the agreement, the aircraft company can utilize about 158 acres of land in the “Phase 1 Development Area.” This area includes the Brownleigh property and an eastern portion of the Northern Tract site, and the former McDonnell Douglas site where manufacturing facilities are located.
Because the airport is the property of the City of St. Louis, the deal needed approval from the St. Louis Board of Estimate and Apportionment and the full St. Louis Board of Aldermen. The three-member E&A board approved the lease agreement in a unanimous vote Wednesday. It will now be reviewed by the full St. Louis Board of Aldermen.
Boeing said the development would create hundreds of new jobs, paying an average of $90,000 per year.
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