Kansas City Congratulates LEED Gold-Rated Green Campus and Other Construction Projects of the Year

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

Kansas City Business Journal has published a ranking of the Kansas City-area construction projects of the year.

Ranked in third place was the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts. The construction cost of the project is reported at $326 million. The 285,000-square-foot facility will have two main performance halls, 196 public restroom stalls, several refreshment bars, a gift shop and it will encompass office space for staff. The structure will feature 27 cables anchored by the weight of the pre-cast walls which will support the glass in the lobby. Matt Jansen, project manager with JE Dunn Construction Company, classified the facility as a gigantic engineering feat. The grand opening is scheduled for mid-September.

In second place, the Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway is a joint venture of Penn National Gaming and International Speedway Corporation with Turner Construction Company and a project cost of $411 million. According to the project website an estimated 1,700 construction jobs and 1,000 full time casino positions will be available and around $2.2 million in annual Gaming Revenues will go to the Unified Government. Opening day is expected to be in early 2012 and over 400,000 tourists are expected to be attracted to Kansas City.

The number 1 ranked construction project of the year in Kansas City is the NNSA National Security Campus. At a reported $467 million construction cost, the project is being developed by JE Dunn Construction. As per the U.S. General Services Administration website the new Kansas City location will protect some of the country’s most important security assets and will employ around 2,500 workers who will manufacture non-nuclear mechanical, electronic, and engineered materials for national defense systems. The 1.5 million-square-foot facility will include manufacturing spaces, laboratories, office space and warehouses. The location is expected to be fully occupied by 2014 and it has been designed to U.S.G.B.C. LEED Gold-Rated Green Campus specifications.