The Jefferson City council has accepted a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to help with the redevelopment of the Missouri State Penitentiary.
The penitentiary was opened in 1836 but was decommissioned in 2004. Now the plan is to turn the property into a multi-use space centered around a hotel and conference center. This grant is from the department’s Economic Development Administration. The city’s half-cent capital improvement sales tax will match this grant. Jefferson City qualified for federal disaster money after a tornado hit the city in May 2019. The MSP site saw damage from the natural disaster and the area also falls into an eligible Opportunity Zone.
