McCarthy Opens Kansas City Office

With more than $1.4 billion of construction underway in the metropolitan Kansas City area and surrounding region, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. has announced the opening of a new Kansas City office to enhance services for clients and partners on the western side of Missouri and in Kansas.

“My first project with McCarthy 27 years ago was in Kansas City, and I’ve always wanted to go back,” said McCarthy Central Division President Scott Wittkop. “We have been planning for a Kansas City area office for some time.

With several significant projects currently underway in the area, we feel that now is the right time to commit to a full service office with focus on our core markets of healthcare, education, science and technology and commercial construction.”

McCarthy, in conjunction with Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction, recently started work on the $80-million, 87,000-square-foot, freestanding central utility plant that will house the primary heating and cooling systems for the adjacent laboratory. Construction of the utility plant will be completed in October of 2015 with construction of the lab scheduled to begin in 2014.

Another nearby prominent project is the MARS Chocolate North America Project Sweetness, a $180-million, 550,000-square-foot, food-grade production and manufacturing facility in Topeka, Kan. Upon completion in 2014, the 150-acre site will be home to seven structures, including production, administration, central utilities, rail buildings, guard house and wastewater treatment plant.

“The primary focus of our new office is to better serve our current client base in pre-construction and construction services while building and strengthening relationships with other contractors and subcontractors in western Missouri and Kansas and be better positioned to respond to new requests for services,” said Wittkop.   “We believe this new office will allow us to be more responsive to customer’s needs in the greater Kansas City area.”

McCarthy’s new Kansas City office, located at 10601 Mission Road in Leawood, Kan., will be open for business in May. McCarthy’s Barry Sutherland has relocated to the area to lead the 3,500-square-foot office as director, including business development responsibilities. McCarthy’s Brad Schoen will serve as preconstruction director.   The office opens with four full-time McCarthy staff with future growth expected.   The office is supported by McCarthy’s central division out of St. Louis, Mo.