ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – Federal leaders gathered Thursday at St. Louis Lambert International Airport to celebrate a new $30 million FAA grant, but the event quickly became something larger: a public case for why regional leaders believe the future of St. Louis may depend in part on the airport’s transformation.
The grant will help fund a new central utility plant tied to Lambert’s planned single-terminal redevelopment project, a multi-billion-dollar effort aimed at modernizing one of the nation’s oldest continuously operating commercial terminals.
But beneath the celebration was a deeper question that repeatedly surfaced throughout the event: Is St. Louis building an airport designed simply to function — or one capable of competing for long-term economic and population growth?…