July 4, 2005
kmbc

KMBC-TV broke on its new 53,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility.

The new building will house KMBC-TV and its sister station, KCWE-TV. The site is located in eastern Kansas City in the Winchester Business Center near Interstate 435 and 63rd Street.

The new facility is projected to be operational in late 2006. It will house the 175 full and part-time employees of both KMBC and KCWE. The two-story building is designed in the architectural style of the Country Club Plaza, which is characteristic of southern Spain. The architect is Rees and Associates of Oklahoma City, a firm that has designed a number of television facilities around the country, including WDSU-TV in New Orleans and WESH-TV in Orlando, both owned by KMBC-TV’s parent company, Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.

KMBC's new building will be equipped with full digital signal processing and High Definition capability. It will include a 4,500-square-foot two-story studio, adjoining its 8,000-square-foot newsroom. In addition to the building, the 8.5 acre campus will support satellite downlink and uplink capability, a helistop for NewsChopper9 and surface parking for employees and guests.

KMBC has operated for 54 years out of its current downtown facility in the Lyric Opera Building at the corner of 11th and Central streets.