JACKSON Co. — 17 years after Kansas City’s Municipal Correctional Institution (MCI) or “The Farm,” closed its doors, a new, modular temporary municipal jail will occupy Jackson County with a May construction deadline.
This temporary, modular facility —which is currently under construction in the East Bottoms at 7740 E. Front St. in the southernmost parking lot of the Tow-watt site — is slated to serve as a bookmark solution until a permanent municipal jail can be constructed for Jackson County over the next few years. With under four months left on its timeline, selected contractor Brown & Root Industrial Services, Inc. and designer Treanor are in a race to the finish line to ensure project completion in time for Kansas City to host six 2026 Fifa World Cup matches across June and July.
And as this location is owned by the Kansas City Water Services Department, Assistant City Manager, Jeff Martin shared that the Kansas City Public Works Department was able to allocate six acres within the southern portion of its parking lot toward the temporary modular jail facility.
Behind the Build
MCI — which was located in the Eastwood Hills neighborhood off Interstate-70 and Highway 435 near the Truman Sports Complex — was an over 440-acre, prison and inmate rehabilitation work program site, operational from 1911 to 1965 when it was demolished and a new correctional building was constructed in its place, where it operated for four decades until it closed its doors in 2009.
In the nearly two decades since this closure, Jackson County municipal ordinance offenders — including littering, graffiti, parking and/or traffic tickets, trespassing, etc. — have required transportation to the closest jail facility in either Vernon County in Nevada, Mo. or Johnson County in Olathe, Kan., anywhere from 32 to 97 miles from Jackson County.
This new temporary facility, as well as the permanent municipal center proposal, are separate from the Jackson County Detention Center, which is currently under construction and nearing completion close to the U.S. Highway 40 and Blue River. This will be an up to 1,000 bed facility with expectations of opening in April 2026.
Conversations for this temporary modular facility began in May 2025, when City Council approved a motion at its May 15 session sponsored by 2nd District Councilman Wes Rogers for City Manager Mario Vasquez to research the practicalities of a temporary modular jail construction.
The City of Kansas City advertised a Request for Proposals (RFP) in July 2025, according to the Oct. 14 City Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee Meeting, with proposals due in August, upon which the City selected Baton Rouge, L.A. based Brown & Root Industrial Services, Inc. — an industrial services company, which offers engineering, construction, maintenance and project management solutions, according to its website — to serve as the general contractor as well as Lawrence, Kan. architectural firm Treanor to captain the design process.
Brown & Root was selected in September with a proposal that detailed up to 130 beds and a May 2026 completion date — adhering to previously requested criteria. Of its proposed options, City Council moved to approve its 100-bed option with a $22 million total project cost at $220,000 per bed — utilizing funding from the Public Safety Sales Tax and housing facility appropriate dollars.
At the Jan. 6 Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee meeting, Martin along with City Architect Rukhsana Reyes — through a motion sponsored by the City Manager’s office — proposed that the council utilize an additional $3.83 million in funding from the Public Safety Sales Tax for this project.
“We felt that there were some enhancements that could be made to ultimately make it a safer facility,” Martin said in a previous media interview.
This added amount, Martin shared, will go toward improvements to the jail’s Sally Port where officers will bring inmates into the facility, as well as aid in expanding available on-site medical services.
This motion went before and passed City Council at its meeting on Jan. 8.
Cracks in the Foundation
While this project has been in the works for the past nine months, official construction did not begin until December, following job contracts for site work, which were obtained in October as well as land-use foundation footing permits, which were approved in November. While the actual building permits were submitted in mid-December, Reyes shared in the Jan. 6 Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee meeting, they have not received this permit yet, but expect it to arrive soon.
While awaiting permits, this has left Treanor and Brown & Root five months to complete this facility in time for their May deadline.
However, as zero hour approaches, various decisions have been made to ensure timely project completion, leaving local community members alike with concerns.
“I am highly disappointed that most of the Building Trades Unions are excluded from this project,” said Ralph Oropeza, Greater KC Building & Construction Trades Council business manager. “While I am happy that there are a small number of union crafts on the site, three I believe, it is very disappointing to know that a large number of our trades were left out.”
And while selecting a contractor over 770 miles from Kansas City with a lack of union participation has remained a popular conversation among the union community, it is not the only aspect of this project occurring off-site.
Its 32 SteelCells — a prefabricated, modular design company, focused on creating cost-effective units for correctional facilities — were completed on Dec. 19 and stored at the company’s warehouse location in Baldwin, Ga. The units were scheduled to ship to the temporary modular jail site the week of Jan. 12.
As these measures have remained consistent for this temporary modular facility, Oropeza said he hopes to see a greater union presence during the permanent Kansas City municipal jail construction process.
“I have spoken to the general contractor on site, and he has assured me that the permanent facility will be built Union; I will believe that when I see it,” Oropeza shared with The Labor Beacon.
Along with on-the-job concerns, Oropeza said another area, which the union community expressed reservations about included the third-party compliance element or business partners and vendors adhering to proper industry standards and law regulations. However, he shared that proper collaborators have addressed and rectified third-party compliance disputes.
Short of LEED Gold Standard
A design certification, which is precedent across construction projects nationwide will be absent upon this temporary modular jail completion due to time constraints and cost efficiency.
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Standard is a third-party, green building certification program — which was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) non-profit — centered around its rating system among the design, construction, operation and maintenance of green buildings, according to its website.
While the LEED Standard offers a tier of ratings, its “Gold Standard” remains among the most achieved worldwide with 34.7% of projects in comparison to 29.1% under Silver, 25.3% reaching Certified and 10.9% qualifying for Platinum, according to Green Building Consulting and Engineering.
Though Platinum is the highest rating a building or project can receive based on its overall quality and sustainability, Gold falls just below and is widely represented across the U.S., select projects in Kansas City have executed this certification including the Kansas City International Airport Harry S. Truman Terminal, according to the USGBC website.
This rating system, is of the most widely recognized green building — an environmentally efficient structure — rating system worldwide, which serves as a global symbol of sustainability leadership, according to the USGBC website
Currently, Kansas City holds an ordinance that states any city building, which is remodeled over 5,000 square feet and/or any new building is required to meet this LEED Gold Certification Standard, Mayor Quinton Lucas shared during the Jan. 6 Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee meeting.
However, the temporary modular jail will not receive LEED Gold Standard certification, Reyes said, for a variety of factors including a rework of the original site design map that was submitted by Brown & Root, as well as completion deadlines and cost restrictions.
While Reyes originally stated during the meeting that the permanent municipal jail would be subject to the LEED Gold Standard requirement, Mayor Quinton Lucas motioned for the permanent facility to additionally be subject to requirement exemption due to time constraints on that project as well.
He went on to request that any Public Safety Sales Tax supported build be allowed to waive this requirement as he does not believe these standards should slow down the City’s ability to implement tax-payer approved public safety programs and that quality environmental standards can still be met without meeting this specific industry standard.
This motion passed City Council on Jan. 8 during its scheduled session.
Julia Williams — a Kansas City native — is a reporter and digital producer for The Labor Beacon. A University of Missouri School of Journalism alumna, she previously served as the editor-in-chief of The Northeast News before joining The Labor Beacon staff.
Williams’s grandfather was a Claycomo Ford Motor Company retiree and avid UAW Local 249 supporter, allowing her to understand the union difference from a young age.
In her free time, Williams enjoys spending time with her family, traveling to see her friends and hanging out at home with her cat, Greta. She loves a good cup of coffee, seeing local, live music and shopping secondhand. With a passion for storytelling, she hopes to bring her knowledge of journalistic integrity to the Kansas City union community — giving union and labor workers a voice, while holding people in powerful positions accountable.
