Westar Expands Presence at Missouri Research Park
June 01, 2006

ST. CHARLES, MO – Westar Aerospace and Defense Group, Inc. has broken ground on a new $13 million corporate headquarters facility at the Missouri Research Park in St. Charles County, Missouri. The facility is targeted for completion in early 2007.

The new 81,000 square foot facility, located next to Westar’s current building at 4 Research Park Drive, will accommodate Westar’s corporate headquarters and Research Technology Center. The Missouri Research Park, owned and operated by the University of Missouri, is located near the intersection of Highway 40/61 and Highway 94 in unincorporated St. Charles County.

“We at the University of Missouri are very excited that Westar has chosen to not only expand at the Missouri Research Park but also to locate its new corporate headquarters and Research Technology Center at the Park,” said Rick Finholt, executive director of the University of Missouri’s Missouri Research Parks. “Westar is a very high tech company that has a long-standing relationship with the University of Missouri, Columbia.”

“Westar’s new facility will be a cost effective, high-end, Class A office building that is space efficient and design effective. The new space will allow for the already evident personnel growth and provide added amenities for employees already accustomed to the convenience of working at the Missouri Research Park,” said Chris P. McKee, president of McEagle Properties which is developing the project. Paric Corporation is the general contractor and Holleran Duitsman Architects, Inc is the architect .

Westar Aerospace and Defense Group, Inc. is a systems engineering contractor with more than $200 million in annual sales and 1100 professionals around the world dedicated to providing high-value engineering, software, and logistics solutions to the U.S. Department of Defense and allied governments. In addition, Westar is the parent company of Aerospace Filtration Systems Inc., and Westar Display Technologies, Inc., businesses that reduce operating costs, and improve efficiency and quality in their respective markets. Westar is a wholly owned subsidiary of UK-based QinetiQ (London: QQ.), an international defense and security technology company with approximately 2,500 employees in the U.S. For more information, visit www.westar.com.

The Missouri Research Park is the first business park in the St. Louis region to market exclusively to technology-intensive and research-based companies. The 200-acre research and development park, with more than 1.2 million square feet under roof, has been a catalyst for development along the Highway 40/61 high-tech corridor in St. Charles County.