The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) reached an important transformation milestone today with the successful on-time, on-budget occupancy transfer of the LEED Gold National Security Campus in Kansas City, Missouri. As the first step in moving out of a Cold War-era complex, NNSA will start paying the lease on the green manufacturing facility under a unique private/governmental partnership.
“The National Security Campus for the Kansas City Plant is a significant part of NNSA’s shift from a Cold War-era nuclear weapons complex into a more efficient 21st-century Nuclear Security Enterprise,” said Thomas D’Agostino, NNSA Administrator. “The smaller, more efficient facility maintains the capability to assure the reliability, safety, and security of our nation’s nuclear deterrent.”
The National Security Campus at 14520 Botts Road, about eight miles south of the current Kansas City Plant at the Bannister Federal Complex, will reduce energy consumption by more than 50 percent and will save the government about $100 million annually in operating costs.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), acting as the federal government’s broker, signed a lease agreement with CenterPoint Zimmer, LLC, for the $687 million campus in June 2010. The new campus of buildings is a private facility being leased to the federal government.
“It truly has been a team effort and we look forward to continuing our local mission to support national security,” said Mark Holecek, NNSA’s Kansas City Field Office Manager. “In addition, this project has boosted the local economy by generating more than 1,000 construction jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in needed economic development to the region. We are proud of that contribution.”
The lease date for NNSA begins on Nov. 15, but the actual start of the 19-month move for equipment, furniture, supplies, and employees is Jan. 23, 2013. The 1.5 million-square-foot campus consists of manufacturing, office, and laboratory space which will house about 2,500 employees who produce a wide array of sophisticated components to safeguard our national defense systems.
“The developer, the city, NNSA, contractors, and elected officials deserve credit as we continue to move forward with a great project that will benefit our community and the country well into the future,” said Jason Klumb, GSA Regional Administrator. “The teamwork involved in this undertaking has been incredible from the beginning and throughout construction.”
Source: KCP Press Release