KU Health System Purchases EPA Building

The University of Kansas Health System is expanding into downtown Kansas City, KS.

Today the group announced the purchase of the former Environmental Protection Agency building at 901 N. Fifth Street in KCK.  KU plans to turn the 220,000 square foot building into a ‘state-of-the-art mental and behavioral health facility’ adding that the building will also house administrative functions.  The terms of the sale were not disclosed but it’s expected the renovations will take about a year and cost $61 million.  About 112,000 square feet will be dedicated to the health care area with the rest designated for the administrative side.

In a press release, vice president and associate chief nursing officer Chris Ruder said “Kansas City, Kansas, has been our home for more than 100 years.  We have invested more than $750 million in Wyandotte County throughout the past couple of decades, which has allowed us to expand healthcare in our community.  This expansion in downtown Kansas City, Kansas, provides the space we need to increase mental and behavioral health services in a full-scale facility for people who need this care in our community, the region and the state.”

According to that same release, the new facility will serve to consolidate inpatient services currently provided at the 39th and Rainbow main campus and at the Prairie Ridge campus in KCK.  This new facility will house a short term inpatient adult mental and behavioral health unit with 47 available beds.