LabOne, Inc. announced on December 22 that it would establish a call center in the high-tech campus.
In early January 2002, the Lenexa-based laboratory-testing and information services firm will move into approximately 50,000 square feet of space formerly occupied by Payless Cashways.
At the beginning of 2002, LabOne will employ more than 1,400 people in the Kansas City area including approximately 1,150 at the company's Lenexa headquarters, 150 in Independence and 100 at the Summit Technology Campus in Lee's Summit.
"The Summit Technology Campus facility allows ample working space for 100 employees who currently work in a location where the lease will expire at the first of the year," said W. Thomas Grant II, chairman, president and CEO of LabOne. "During the next two years we also plan to add employees at this location who we anticipate will be needed for call center operations."
LabOne will begin the build-out of the Summit Technology Campus during the first quarter of 2002.
The LabOne news comes on the heels of a November announcement by the General Service Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service that the INS would be leasing approximately 125,000 square feet at the campus for a new processing center. More than 450 federal workers will be employed at the center. It is on schedule to open March 1, 2002.
Other signs of progress at Summit Tech include:
· The leasing of 36,000 square feet to prescription benefits provider, Caremark, who will employ 320 people.
· An 8,000-square-foot expansion by Cerner, bringing it to 23,000 total square feet at the campus.
· The construction of a new 500-car parking lot on the West End of the campus.
"Summit Technology Campus is reaching a critical mass," said Rich Muller, assistant vice president of Townsend Capital, the owners of the campus. "New tenants are signing on and prospective tenants are seeing the enormous potential we have at Summit Tech and in the Lee's Summit area."
LabOne is a national laboratory resting and information service provider with three divisions: Risk assessment services, healthcare and substance abuse testing.
The risk assessment division, with its Intellisys, ExamOne and SBSI companies, provides laboratory testing, paramedical examinations, attending physician statements, motor vehicle reports, background inspections and personal history interviews to life and health insurance companies.
LabOne's healthcare division provides diagnostic testing and related services to physicians and managed care organizations, and to benefit providers and employers through its unique Lab Card benefit program.
The company's substance abuse testing division provides drug testing to employers. LabOne's Web site is located at www.LabOne.com.
The Lee's Summit Journal, December 28, 2001.
