The Opus Group announced the start of construction on a new headquarters for Cargill’s North America protein business. Construction of the 190,000-square-foot office building in Wichita, Kan. is slated for completion in October 2018.

“We are delighted to build on our existing relationship with the Cargill team by working on its new protein business headquarters and supporting the team’s vision in Wichita,” said Tim Callahan, senior project manager, Opus Design Build LLC. “We are working alongside fantastic local partners to deliver a state-of-the-art headquarters that embodies Cargill Protein’s mission and cultivates future growth.”

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 Old Town 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 East Douglas Avenue. The headquarters is designed to fit the city’s style and personality.

Opus worked alongside the full project team early in the process to ensure design and construction scopes were aligned. 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.

Opus Design Build is the construction manager in collaboration with Key Construction for this project. HOK is the architect of record.

Source: Cargill