On the 60th anniversary of the University of Missouri- St. Louis, UMSL released a new Campus Master Plan to help create a community environment for not only their students but for the entirety of the St. Louis Region. UMSL is seeking twenty million dollars in local funding to prepare 35 acres for the development of a business district as well as a public plaza along the Natural Bridge Road corridor and around the UMSL MetroLink Stations. UMSL’s plan is to build several different public areas, including restaurants, and grocery stores. They are also planning on creating living areas such as apartment buildings and condominiums. Having these different areas of opportunity, the need for public transportation is very high, and a crucial component of this new coming community.
Within this plan of action, UMSL has stated that their needs from this project include to,
– Improve the quality of life in North St. Louis County.
– Increases St. Louis County’s capacity for high paying, in demand-jobs.
– Enhance St. Louis County’s workforce training and development opportunities.
– Building local and state taking revenue.
– Building the urban campus for the future.
To meet these goals, UMSL has a plan of action with the space that they are requesting. Plans that have been brought to the public’s attention are the following,
– Building UMSL’S current healthcare services as well as recruiting other providers to create greater access to urgent, optometric, and mental health care.
– Improving job access and growth within the workforce.
– Creating public and private development opportunities such as apartments, condos, restaurants, and grocery stores.
With this increase in the campus community and the additional 35 acres requested for this project, transportation and access will be critical for the public and essential workforce district. Within the added land, there are plans for public transportation such as Metrolink and MetroBus transfer stations that will be on-site for the public. This will give employees and the general public a chance for transportation to and from their given businesses.
CMT will continue to provide updates on this project as details become available.