McCarthy Building Companies Completes Construction of First New Mars Chocolate North America Site in 35 Years

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. has completed construction of the new Mars Chocolate North America plant in Topeka, Kan. The plant is the first new Mars Chocolate North America site in the U.S. in the last 35 years.

The completion of the roughly 500,000-square-foot facility also represents McCarthy’s first completion of a Kansas project since 1991. The total cost of the project was $270 million, including $195 million in construction costs. McCarthy constructed the project in a joint-venture relationship with MC Industrial, Inc., an independent McCarthy company.

“For Mars Chocolate North America, having McCarthy’s construction and industrial expertise under one roof added project efficiencies that got the plant to full production in record time. We”re excited to have worked with Mars to achieve such a successful project,” said Scott Wittkop, president of McCarthy’s Central Division.

“For the last 100 years, Mars has been committed to making our products in the markets where we sell them. This new facility, in America’s heartland, is a further demonstration of our commitment to make products for the U.S. market in the U.S. This state-of-the-art facility will help to fuel the growth of our business by increasing capacity and flexibility to meet the demands of consumers for the next 50 years,” said Bret Spangler, Mars Chocolate North America Topeka site director.

The new facility will produce SNICKERS chocolate bars and M&M”S chocolate candies.

Construction of the plant began in September 2011. The construction involved more than 1.2 million man hours, with no time lost due to injuries.

“McCarthy was a collaborative partner who worked closely with Mars to optimize critical work streams within the project scope. As a result, the project team saved significant time enabling an expedited start-up,” said Louis Hemmelgarn, Mars Chocolate North America Topeka project engineering manager.

The state-of-the art facility was built to meet leading-edge environmental standards, and will pursue LEED certification, demonstrating the company’s commitment to sustainability.

The project also was a catalyst for St. Louis-based McCarthy Building Companies to establish a Kansas City office in April 2013. The company is aggressively pursuing additional Kansas City-area projects.