Five years after restarting its presence in the Kansas City construction market, McCarthy Building Companies is touting over $300 million in business booked in Johnson County and a full-time staff of 40 employees.
McCarthy's largest KC-area project to date is the $267 million Tomahawk Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility expansion. As the Construction Manager at Risk for the project, McCarthy is overseeing demolition of the existing facility at 107th and Lee Boulevard in Leawood and providing construction services for a new plant that almost triples existing capacity. Delivery is set for 2021.
The project represents an unexpected growth opportunity in public infrastructure for the St. Louis-based contractor that averages more than $3 billion a year in business. When McCarthy re-entered the KC market in 2013 after a five-year hiatus, its goal was to build on its traditionally strong markets of health care, education, and advanced technology and manufacturing.
“Those are the three markets we targeted, but we have found our way into both the municipal and water/wastewater markets,” said Barry Sutherland, who leads business development for McCarthy’s local office. “As a national contractor, we have the ability to offer robust service to deliver a project on budget and on schedule. We help clients think through ways to meet their budget and work to build trust early.”
Additional recent public projects include design-build services for Merriam’s new $30 million 66,000-square-foot aquatic and community center, as well as construction of Johnson County’s new $16.5 million, 32,500-square-foot facility to house medical examiner operations.
Steve Meuschke, McCarthy's vice president of KC operations, said his team plans to build on the recent string of local government projects while continuing to chase McCarthy’s traditional bread-and-butter markets.
“There’s a lot of work out there,” Meuschke said. “I think clients are now spending money that they weren’t willing to spend in the past. That’s just how the economy is right now. All the markets are very active.”