Construction begins on new home for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Work has begun on a new home for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has more than 80 technicians in the Kansas City area who repair and recondition sophisticated electronic equipment for the National Weather Service.

The federal agency will be the first tenant in an 82-acre office park called South Pointe, near Botts Road and Missouri 150. The $28.3 million building is scheduled to be completed in November 2015.

The organization will be the last agency to leave the old Bannister Federal Complex, a massive former World War II-era defense plant in south Kansas City that is being closed and will eventually be redeveloped.

The new 225,000-square-foot building, at 14200 Merritt Road, is being built by Kansas City-based Burns & McDonnell, which also designed it.

The building includes 150,000 square feet of warehouse space and more than 63,500 square feet of office space. It will house the organization’s National Logistics Support and Reconditioning Center.

The South Pointe project is being developed by the Kessinger Hunter commercial real estate firm and is near the new National Security Campus, which is home to Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies. Honeywell operates the facility under a federal contract to test non-nuclear parts for nuclear weapons.

Honeywell and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administation are among several federal agenices that moved or are planning to move from the Bannister Federal Complex.

This story was originally published October 7, 2014 at 8:56 AM with the headline "Construction begins on new home for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."