The Kansas City (Mo.) Star has moved forward on its new production complex in
downtown Kansas City by tapping the Austin Co. to design, engineer and build the
$199 million project.
The 424,000-square-foot facility, slated to be
partially operational in 2005, will house the largest KBA press installation in
North America.
The newspaper (daily 266,264; Sunday, 379,664)
will install four Commander presses, with 216 printing couples, 36 towers, 40
reelstands and six folders.
The Kansas City Star’s new production
complex will feature a glass-enclosed press hall designed to attract tourists.
Photo: The Austin Co.
Press installation is scheduled for November 2004
and production will begin in early 2006.
“This is one of the largest investments in
downtown Kansas City in recent years and an extremely important project for The
Star and the community we serve,” said Arthur S. Brisbane, president and
publisher of the daily.
Austin designed the building to become a
prominent downtown landmark. Its design reflects the function of the facility
— two city blocks will be transformed into a huge splash of color, similar to
how the new presses will add color to the newspaper, according to Mike Pusich,
vice president and director of Austin’s newspaper group.
The press hall will be enclosed with transparent
blue glass, enabling people to view the presses in action.
“This is one of our most challenging projects,”
said Pusich, describing the plant.
If The Star had elected to build outside of the
city on a greenfield site, the project would have warranted more than 30 acres
of space, Pusich said. Instead, Austin’s engineers, under the direction of
Project Manager Fred Hide and chief architect Lee Dagit, will have to deal with
a confined two-block area.
The site’s restrictions mean The Star’s plant
will be long and narrow, with a multilevel press bay that will be based on an
automatic storage and retrieval system designed by HK Systems Inc.
The press hall’s glass curtain, meanwhile, will
require special testing and custom-made glass, Pusich said, in order to allow
the press to operate normally within Kansas City’s humid climate.
Austin’s contract with The Star comes on the
heels of a similar agreement Austin struck with The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch.
The newspaper is using Austin to upgrade and expand its packaging and
distribution center.
Under terms of the contract, Austin will design
and oversee building of the mailroom and distribution facility, slated for
completion in mid-2004.
Del Varney, vice president of production
operations for The Dispatch, said the new facility would house new palletizing
equipment from Craftsman Newspaper Production Systems. The palletizers, along
with inserters, conveyors and other post-production technologies, will allow The
Dispatch to fine-tune its zoning strategies, Varney said.
The center will serve as a cornerstone supporting
The Dispatch’s depot-based distribution system, Varney said.
Austin designed and built The Dispatch’s
existing plant, completed in 1990.
| Star makes moves to equip
mammoth plant
Even as The Kansas City (Mo.) Star tapped
the Austin Co. to build its new $199 million production facility, the
newspaper also tapped three other vendors it will use to equip the
plant.
Technology and equipment from Ewert
America Electronics, Oxy-Dry Corp. and HK Systems will all be
incorporated into the new facility, said Dave Brolhurst, director of
production for the newspaper.
EAE will provide the press control
systems used to operate the four KBA Commander presses anchoring the
facility, Brolhurst said. Oxy-Dry, meanwhile, is responsible for the
blanket washers while HK will build the daily’s automatic storage and
retrieval system.
The plant expects to begin packaging and
distributing copies of The Star in early 2005, with press commissioning
expected in 2006. |
