After nearly seven years since Manhattan was selected as the future site of the National Bio and Agro Defense facility, the groundbreaking on the main lab occurred Wednesday afternoon.

The $1.25 billion national research center focusing on deadly animal diseases is being built on the north east edge of the Kansas State University Manhattan Campus.

“There will be no place like this in the world once this project is finished. Kansas, this area, will be at the top, at the pinnacle of animal health research and zoonotic research in the world,” said Kansas Governor Sam Brownback. “This will be the place, this will be the place you’re going to want to come if you’ve got research in those areas. If you’ve got the toughest problems they will be dealt with here and we’re ready for that task, we’re ready for that time.”

Wednesday’s groundbreaking drew a large crowd of special guests including Jeh Johnson, Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security.

He explained that when he was nominated for the position back in 2013 and first met with Senators Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran he didn’t know anything about NBAF, but he learned a lot from the two Senators.

“I went back to my office and I said to our staff, ‘Please tell me we are supportive and committed to this very important facility,’ and we are and we will be,” said Secretary Johnson.

Construction of the lab is expected to begin almost immediately, with construction efforts projected to peak in 2018 and 2019 when more than 875 construction personnel will be on site each day for several weeks. Lab construction is slated for completion in December 2020, but will likely take two years or more after that before NBAF is fully operational.