Planning begins for MSP land following transfer approval

The red line is the boundary of the land the city hopes to redevelop at the Missouri State Penitentiary site, and the pink lines represent where streets would be added.
The red line is the boundary of the land the city hopes to redevelop at the Missouri State Penitentiary site, and the pink lines represent where streets would be added.

Jefferson City could soon be the owner of 32 acres of the former Missouri State Penitentiary.

Gov. Eric Greitens still has to sign the bill lawmakers passed last week, approving the conveyance of 31.8 acres - out of a 128-acre total - to the city government.

"It's definitely my expectation" the governor will sign the bill, Mayor Carrie Tergin said Friday, "just because it's been so well received, and it's a project that we've been working on for quite some time."

The city and Cole County governments are working together to develop a parkway through the MSP grounds, which is expected to improve access for other kinds of development.

It is intended to run from the circle at the end of Lafayette Street east and south through the property to East Capitol Avenue, with a roundabout just east of Chestnut Street, between the state's Health Lab and Department of Natural Resources buildings.

"We're currently working on the engineering," Tergin said, "so that should be completed here soon."

She noted, "The access road and infrastructure are going to be a very important component so that we can then start the development process.

"That of course would be a public-private partnership, but in order for anything to move forward, we do need the road and infrastructure."

Tergin said the local officials "would want to work alongside whatever development would go there so that everything would complement each other."

She expects the City Council and County Commission will have a work session this summer to review the Master Plan, which is a guide for development.

The MSP grounds were originally comprised of more than 140 acres - more than just the prison inside the stone walls.

The state's Redevelopment Commission developed the Master Plan a decade ago.

It envisioned a mixed-use of the site, including the development of state office buildings already built east of the prison compound - the Lewis and Clark green building that houses the state DNR and the Health Lab.

The federal courthouse, 80 Lafayette St., is also built on the former prison property.

The original Master Plan shows the natural resources campus as a 50-acre green space far east of the walls which should be left undisturbed - between the former Surplus Properties area and the city's Ellis-Porter/Riverside Park.

However, some have showed interest in the oak-hickory forest instead being used for residential development.

Tergin said some details of the property transfer must still be worked out with the state after the governor signs the legislation authorizing the transfer.

"We will be working very closely with the Office of Administration - as we have with the current long-term lease" between the state and the Convention and Visitors Bureau for the popular prison tours. "That process was very smooth, and we foresee that this process would also be smooth."

Tergin thinks state officials want to see the city do a good job with the development since "this project (will have) such a positive impact for economic development for the entire state because as people come to the prison for tours, they're passing through a lot of these communities throughout the state. The economic benefit can certainly be felt throughout the entire state."