KCNSC East Campus wins Capstone Award

The dictionary defines “capstone” as “the finishing stone of a structure — the crowning achievement, point, element or event.”

A recent project at the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC) meets all those criteria and more, which is undoubtedly why KCNSC’s East Campus, also known as Building 23, has been recognized by the Kansas City Business Journal (KCBJ) as one of the area’s most prominent real estate developments of last year.  

KCBJ asked a panel of independent judges with a variety of backgrounds to decide which local projects in 2023 were the most innovative, groundbreaking and important to the landscape of the metro area. On May 1, 2024, KCBJ will honor 26 recipients in 10 different categories at its 19th-annual Capstone Awards at the Loews Kansas City Hotel.

In what KCBJ calls its “Infrastructure” category, KCNSC spent $125.75 million, with an acquisition cost of $38.8 million and a remodel cost of $86.95 million. Building 23, located at 14901 Andrews Road in Kansas City, Mo., expanded the company’s manufacturing footprint by 40%. KCNSC produces 80% of all non-nuclear components for the nation’s nuclear stockpile. The existing manufacturing space was insufficient to support the continuous growth of KCNSC’s classified weapon programs.

Glenn Strausser, Director of Infrastructure and Facilities, said: “The design, construction, outfitting and transition to operations at Building 23 is a fantastic effort and the team has done an outstanding job. This project helped NNSA reimagine and reinvent how NNSA acquires property. It was a collaborative, agile approach of delivering value to the mission sooner via a time-phased approach. The team included Honeywell FM&T personnel, NNSA Kansas City Field Office personnel and support from NNSA Headquarters.”

The lead architects and engineers for the construction project came from Burns & McDonnell and that firm’s Facility Engineering Services. General contractors included JE Dunn, Rand Construction Co., P1 Group Inc., GBA Builders and Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. Other contributors included Accutec Services Inc., Capital Electric Construction Co., Infinite Energy Construction, Johnson Controls International, Terracon, Multi Systems Installation, Precision Environments Inc., U.S. Engineering and Western Environmental.

KCNSC first leased and then bought the building as a commercial warehouse but has transformed it into classified manufacturing space, increasing the capabilities to meet the requirements of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies manages  KCNSC.