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Milestone met as construction is soon to begin at former Bannister federal complex

By Dennis Boone and Madison Parry

In a matter of days construction will begin for the Blue River Commerce Center on land of the former Bannister federal complex. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and other officials meeting at the now cleared south Kansas City site where the $135 million project will be built and is expected to create at least 1,500 new jobs.

The first buildings have yet to go up, but redevelopment of the former Bannister federal complex in south Kansas City reached a milestone of sorts today. Gov. Mike Parson was on hand—and officials from Washington delivering remarks remotely—as developers declared the site preparation virtually complete.

A remediation task originally estimated to cost $900 million at the site, where non-nuclear components of the nation’s atomic stockpile were assembled, yielded a public-private effort that saved taxpayers more than $700 million, officials said, clearing the way for construction to begin soon on a 227-acre industrial warehousing and distribution center.

Kevin Breslin of Bannister Transformation & Development, the private partnership working with NorthPoint Development on the project, greeted dignitaries and members of various construction companies, and noted that efforts to demolish the previous structure and clean the site had required 600,000 man-hours—executed without a single day lost to work-related injury.

Parson, as well, delivered his congratulations, joined by Sen. Roy Blunt and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver in a video feed from their offices in Washington. Following them was Lisa Gordon-Hagerty of the Energy Department, who serves as undersecretary for nuclear security.

“Within a matter of days,” Breslin said, “you will see construction trailers moving in.”

In addition to the NNSA operations, the site was formerly home to offices of the General Services Administration, the Department of Agriculture, weather-service operations and and military offices.

Bannister Transformation & Development acquired the property in November 2017 after working with state, the NNSA and GSA, the Environmental Protection Agency and private investors.

NorthPoint Development first proposed the Blue River Commerce Center as a $135 million project that will entail 2.6 million square feet of space at the site. That project calls for seven buildings of between 241,000 and 438,000 square feet, and parking for 1,730 vehicles. Officials from the developer expect the site, rezoned from manufacturing to urban development status, will lead to creation of at least 1,500 new jobs in warehousing, distribution and logistics, fueling a resurgence of economic activity in south Kansas City.

The site is barely a mile west of Cerner’s Innovation Campus, the largest redevelopment in Missouri history. That $4.5 billion project has already marked completion of several office towers, with more on the drawing board and plans to employ as many as 25,000 people by 2025.