Construction of the new headquarters for Cargill’s North America protein business in Wichita, Kansas, has begun. The completion of construction of the 190,000-square-foot office building is slated for October 2018.
The new headquarters will feature four stories of office space with an immersive technology center, presentation kitchen, sensory center kitchen and testing booths on the first floor and a third floor balcony and employee café space. With design focused on encouraging employee collaboration, the headquarters will have room for up to 950 employees. The project also includes an 800-car parking garage for Cargill’s employees during work hours and for public use for events in Wichita’s Old Town district and the nearby arena.
“Our new headquarters reflects our enthusiasm and optimism for the future growth of our protein business, as well as our focus on meeting both our customers’ needs and providing an engaging, modern, esthetically compelling work environment for our Wichita team,” said Brian Sikes, Cargill Protein president. “We look forward to occupying this world-class workspace.”
Amid a larger downtown revitalization, Cargill’s new headquarters replaces an older building on Wichita’s East Douglas Avenue. The headquarters is designed to fit the city’s style and personality.
The building is being constructed at the former site of the Wichita Eagle, the city’s primary newspaper. The Eagle opted to move into a smaller building as the company consolidated its press operations with that of another newspaper in the region. Demolition of that building started this summer.
Construction project partners
Cargill has contracted with Opus Group, Key Construction and architectural firm HOK for the project. Opus worked alongside the full project team early in the process to ensure design and construction scopes were aligned, according to a press release from Opus. Opus’ previous experience working with Cargill includes the development, design and construction of the company’s 920,000-square-foot, three-building, Class A corporate campus in Minnesota.
