( KTRS ) Officials have announced plans to relocate a federal spy agency to a new site in St. Louis rather than across the Mississippi River in southern Illinois.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency announced on it’s website that its western headquarters will be moved to north St. Louis, in the area that was previously the Pruitt Igoe public housing complex.

Governer Nixon expects the NGA project will spark more economic development, revitalizing the crumbling neighborhood.

The agency said in April that it preferred to stay in St. Louis rather than move to a site near Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County, Illinois. Thursday’s announcement followed efforts by Illinois officials to lure the project to the Illinois site, about 25 miles east of downtown St. Louis.