FRANKFORT, Ky., October 16, 2019 — The EOP-designed Mayo-Underwood Building, Kentucky’s newest government office building, officially opened today with a ceremony honoring the past and celebrating the future with building tours and an afternoon open house. Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary William Landrum III and CRM Companies President Craig Turner spoke at the event that featured former students from the long-ago demolished, namesake school.
“By naming the Mayo-Underwood Building, my intent was to remember and recognize what was here before, to honor the past while we move into the future,” Landrum said as he welcomed four Mayo-Underwood graduates back to the site where the African-American school stood for more than 40 years.
The design also honors the past and embraces the future. When the Capital Plaza Tower was imploded for the new building and parking facility 19 months ago, the design team salvaged the tower’s vintage marble that lined its lobby walls for lining the new building’s lobby. Tons of debris from the demolition was used for the pad on which the new building’s foundation rests. And materials from the tower were used to create a tree sculpture for the lobby complete with symbolism from the Crawfish Bottom neighborhood where the building sits.
The building embraces the future with state-of-the-art technology in an environmentally friendly, energy-efficient and employee-centric design. A monument recognizing those who attended the school now stands outside the entrance to the new building, which houses over 1,500 state workers consolidated from over 23 different locations. Cabinets moving to the new facility include Education/Workforce Development, Labor, Public Protection and Tourism, Arts and Heritage. Other agencies in the building include Kentucky Communications Network Authority, State Risk and some employees from the Commonwealth Office of Technology.