As Missouri and Jefferson City continue to finalize the land conveyance of almost 32 acres of the Missouri State Penitentiary property to the city, community leaders are preparing to move forward on redeveloping the land under the guidance of the Missouri State Penitentiary Master Plan.
In July, Gov. Eric Greitens signed over 31.82 acres of the old prison to Jefferson City after Senate Bill 486 passed. Since then, the city has formed the Missouri State Penitentiary Community Partners - a group of city, county and state representatives - to consider how they wish to redevelop the area.
The MSPCP plans to use the MSP Master Plan, created in 2001, as a guide.
The Missouri State Penitentiary, built in 1834 and the first prison built west of the Mississippi River, housed thousands of prisoners from 1836 and was the home of the Jefferson City Correctional Center until it moved in 2003. Once JCCC moved to its current location, 8200 No More Victims Road, the penitentiary was decommissioned.
A 24-member task force of city, state, county and local civic organization representatives was created in 1999 to create a plan for redeveloping the 142-acre site once the JCCC moved. They anticipated legislation would be introduced in 2001 to establish redevelopment guidelines and they would begin redevelopment in summer 2001.
However, redevelopment did not occur, and the plan was set aside after JCCC moved.
Now that the city soon will own 32 acres of the old prison site, Mayor Carrie Tergin said they can once again move forward with that plan.
"It's been such an anticipated project, and everyone is excited to see it come to this point and to actually have the opportunity to talk about it," Tergin said. "It's been a long time coming - it's been 13 years vacant."
Around 128 acres of the site's 140 acres remain undeveloped. The city plans to develop its 32 acres, while the state will control 95 acres to the east.
The land the city will own is between the historic site and Chestnut Street, as well as some right-of-way and the old shoe factory, the second oldest building on the prison site.
According to the master plan, redevelopment of the old prison site would be "a unique challenge and a rare opportunity" since a large piece of land close to the center of a state capital does not become available often. The prison was located in a neighborhood declared "distressed" due to poorly maintained homes and the redevelopment group need to consider improvements to the neighborhood, the plan also notes.
The 24-member task force held several meetings, public forums and surveys and received almost 40 possible redevelopment uses for the MSP property - including riverfront access, hotels, restaurants, retail shops, parks and offices. It also recommended new sidewalks, bike paths and street access.
The driving forces when developing the plan was cost effectiveness, historic preservation, community acceptance, and local usability and compatibility. Other factors considered were the impact the redevelopment would have on tourism, the city's economy and long-term flexibility of the old prison.
After studying examples of redevelopment organizations, consultant Parsons HBA recommended one of the first steps be setting up a group of representatives from the state, county and city to guide, manage and secure support of the redevelopment. The master plan also recommended a citizens' advisory committee that could advise the organization.
Tergin received permission from the Missouri Office of Administration to form the Missouri State Penitentiary Community Partners, which the Jefferson City Council approved last month.
As the state and city continue to finalize the land conveyance and memorandum of understanding - a document that will lay out the state's expectations for development and what the city plans to do with the land - the MSPCP not only will analyze the master plan and decide which components it wants to implement once the land conveyance is completed but also will advise the City Council on redevelopment.
The group will consist of Tergin; City Councilmen Mark Schreiber, Rick Prather, Rick Mihalevich and Ron Fitzwater; Cole County Commissioners Sam Bushman, Jeff Hoelscher and Kris Scheperle; Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce President Randy Allen; Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Diane Gillespie; and Missouri Office of Administration Director of Facilities Cathy Brown.
Tergin said the MOU also will heavily guide the redevelopment plans, and she hopes to have the finalized MOU soon.
MSPCP will hold its first meeting in January, and it will be open to the public.
Schreiber, who served on the original MSP task force, said several of the master plan's possible redevelopment options are still relevant even though the plan was created more than a decade ago.
Several MSPCP members said they will keep an open mind when deciding which suggestions they want to implement. Bushman, Cole County presiding commissioner, said this land is a "diamond in the rough" since it is in the heart of Jefferson City and an "open, blank canvas" when it comes to redevelopment.
Of the 31.82 acres the city will own, 4.4 acres will be for a MSP parkway; the Lafayette Street right-of-way will take up 1.5 acres, and the railroad will use 6.2 acres. This leaves 19.7 acres for city development.
Schreiber, who was a deputy warden at the Missouri State Penitentiary, said the MSP Parkway would be the first thing the MSPCP needs to consider.
The plan states vehicle access to the old prison will be one of the "single most important factors in the successful redevelopment" and must occur early in the process. It notes people must be able to access not only the prison but also the surrounding neighborhoods and highway to provide a linked community.
The master plan recommends a parkway that would extend from the circle end of Lafayette Street, east and south through the property, eventually connecting with East Capitol Avenue. Another roundabout shown on the master plan would be located east of Chestnut Street.
Schreiber and Bushman said they would like to explore having a convention/civic center on this land, a suggested use of the old shoe factory in the master plan.
The master plan adds several buildings - not included in the city's 32 acres - could be used as meeting areas for the convention/civic center, including the furniture and clothing factories and the metal working plant.
"We need one somewhere, and it's a good location," Bushman said. "In order to make that viable, though, you've got to have services close by where people can go eat and shop. It's a little farther from downtown than I would like, but maybe we could run the trolleys back and forth and have restaurants and retail near by.
"But we need a convention center, we really do. We've been talking about this for so, so long and it just hasn't happened yet, and I think we're missing out on a lot of potential groups that we could have coming into Jefferson City."
According to a resolution approved by the City Council last month, the MSPCP will work on a request for a proposal to "identify a conference/civic center as a desired use with the area to be redeveloped."
Since a voter-approved lodging tax increase in 2011, the 4-cent tourism fund has more than $4.2 million for the convention/civic center. Jefferson City Financial Department Director Margie Mueller said the estimated funds available for a convention/civic center is $12 million.
If the city decides not to proceed with the convention/civic center, the plan notes the furniture factory and metal working plant also could be used as performing arts centers, exhibit halls or restaurants.
Also included in the master plan is possible access to Adrian's Island. The plan encouraged the redevelopment group to seek access to Adrian's Island from the penitentiary once the JCCC moved.
Earlier this month, city officials and members of the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce toured the 30-acre island as they plan to develop it into a riverfront park, with a bridge extending over the railroad tracks to the area. The bridge would extend from the juncture of the Senate parking garage and Veterans Memorial at the Capitol to the potential park.
Tergin noted Jefferson City is the only state capital in the country that has a river and an old prison site, and she would like to redevelop Adrian's Island to promote tourism at both places. Schreiber added the revitalization of East Capitol Avenue also will enhance redevelopment of the prison site.
"We need to tie all of those things together in what I call the old part of Jefferson City, and I think this is a great chance to do that," he said. "There will be a lot of great opportunities here."
Gillespie said the redevelopment could encourage economic prosperity in the community because people will be more likely to stay in Jefferson City and visit other tourist attractions. About 20 percent of prison tour guests this year stayed overnight, she said.
The CVB has been leasing the old prison from the state for prison tours. This year, 33,182 went through the tours, up almost 400 from last year, Gillespie said.
The historic buildings used for prison tours won't be impacted by the land conveyance and will remain in the state's possession. The gas chamber, used for capital punishment from 1938-89, would be in the city-owned property but would remain in the state's possession and still be used for prison tours.
The gas chamber was listed as one of the top five highest preservation priorities in the master plan, along with Housing Unit 4, 1, 3 A&B, and the upper yard wall and towers. The master plan calls for these features to be preserved and used for tours.
While the city will only redevelop a small area of the penitentiary, the master plan discusses options for other parts of the MSP property, such as transforming Housing Unit 5 into a 152-room hotel, using the Potato House as a farmers market or an interpretive center for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and adding offices in the dining hall and Housing Unit 2.
The CVB's net profit from prison tours goes back into the prison site. The CVB is working on some projects, but Gillespie said she wants to see the direction of the redevelopment before proceeding with them.
"There's a few things we want to do over there; and if this redevelopment does take place, then those projects could happen," Gillespie said. "Right now, expense wise, the cost of them is pretty high, and we don't want to spend that money because if that redevelopment does happen, what if we have to tear up that project and the money we just spent? With that redevelopment, we might be able to tag into it and provide services, but it would be half the cost of what we would have to pay now to have it done."
While the redevelopment would not physically impact the historic buildings, Gillespie and Tergin said it would complement the prison tours because people visiting the redeveloped area could tour the old prison and vice versa.
Schreiber said he thinks the MSPCP should be "cautious" when redeveloping the land.
He added the MSPCP should reach out to different entities for more input on certain redevelopment options, such as possible designs or placements of buildings. When the task force created the master plan, members wanted to preserve the buildings as best they could and keep the designs of possible new buildings in sync with the historic buildings.
Schreiber said he sees the redevelopment of the 32 soon-to-be-city-owned acres as a continuation of a new chapter following the prison's decommissioning.
"Even when we moved out, a lot of people thought that was the last chapter of the Missouri State Penitentiary," he said. "Well, I think we could call it the next chapter or the epilogue or whatever. It certainly is those things because this is a new chapter of MSP, and it's already been going on without additional redevelopment because we did open it up to the tours and it is bringing people to the city of Jefferson.
"Now we need to make this the best that we can for this community."