John Deere To Build New LEED Certified Marketing/Sales Center In Olathe, Kansas

LENEXA, Kansas .– John Deere and the city of Olathe, Kansas announced today that John Deere will build a new marketing and sales center in northwest Olathe, in the Corporate Ridge Office Park, near K 10 and Ridgeview Road. This 126,150 square-foot facility will house more than 400 marketing professionals who provide support and service to John Deere sales branches and agricultural dealerships in the U.S. and Canada.

“This state-of-the-art facility will meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Certification, Gold Level,” said John Lagemann, vice president of agricultural equipment, sales for U.S. and Canada. “It will provide an exceptional working environment for our employees who work in our industry-leading marketing organization. We’re proud of our commitment to the greater Kansas City area - a geographic, cultural center for agriculture.”

The new single-building facility will have expanded meeting and training rooms, a fitness center, and an open-office atmosphere to facilitate teamwork in strategic and tactical marketing initiatives. There will be unimpeded visibility to the outside and excellent utilization of natural light.

“This announcement is truly special for Olathe,” said Olathe Mayor Michael Copeland. “We’re not only welcoming some 400 professional jobs and a multi-million dollar investment in our city, but a Fortune 100 company that is a world leader in farm, construction, forestry and consumer equipment. This speaks volumes to the overall economic development in the area.”

John Deere is making this move from an older, two-building facility to fully support the future growth in sales and market share of agricultural equipment throughout the U.S. and Canada. City officials are working on projects to bring hotel and other convention center facilities to the area to supplement development and business growth.

“This location was also chosen because of the ease of transportation access,” said Tim Merrett, John Deere’s vice president of agricultural equipment, marketing. "Neighboring properties are excellent businesses and the transportation infrastructure supports convenient access to the greater Kansas City area including the KCI and Johnson County airports.

Merrett said the marketing center will use new technology in construction to support efforts to build according to greener, cleaner environmental standards.

Construction for the new facility will begin this fall and is expected to be completed in early 2010.