The American Red Cross has broken ground on a $10-million new American Red Cross chapter headquarters in Columbia.
The new facility will be built in fast-growing south Columbia and will be located on Stellar drive near VU’s headquarters. Columbia councilman Don Waterman spoke at Wednesday’s ceremony, representing the city of Columbia. He notes the Red Cross has been in Columbia for at least 50 years:
“Multiple times it was mentioned the (Mizzou) homecoming blood drive. It’s been going for more than 40 (years). So yeah, that is a very long time here in Columbia,” Councilman Waterman says.
The new headquarters will take about one year to build. It will include a blood collection donor center, a center for platelet donation, office space and training classrooms for first aid/CPR.
After 50 years of being located down the hill from Faurot Field, the American Red Cross is moving its chapter headquarters in Columbia. American Red Cross of Missouri and Arkansas chief executive officer Barry Falke spoke at Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony. Mr. Falke, who is based in St. Louis, says the new facility will centralize operations in Columbia:
“Here in mid-Missouri we have a building in Jefferson City and one here in Columbia. This will serve as our primary headquarters for our chapter, what we call our Central and Northern Missouri chapter of the American Red Cross. Which really goes from Rolla all the way north to the Iowa border,” he says.
Mr. Falke tells 939 the Eagle that Columbia will serve as their central headquarters in things like blood collection, disaster and training. Columbia-based Coil Construction is the lead contractor for the project. Coil Construction founder and chairman Randy Coil tells 939 the Eagle that the project will bring millions of dollars to the community:
“There will probably be close to $4-million worth of wages paid out locally here between the subcontractors and our company. So it’s going to bring a lot of money to the community. And that money as you know multiplies. $10-million becomes $60, $70-million in terms of the returns to the community,” Mr. Coil says.
Mr. Coil says this will be a great partnership, praising the work the American Red Cross does. The project is expected to take about one year to build, weather permitting.
