photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

An employee at US Engineering Metalworks prepares a piece of copper pipe for fabrication on Sept. 15, 2026.

A manufacturer complex piping and cooling systems for large buildings — everything from the big Panasonic plant in De Soto to AI data centers — officially opened its new facility Tuesday in Lawrence Venture Park.

Leaders of U.S. Engineering Metalworks gathered with several dozen community members on Tuesday morning to celebrate the opening of a new 100,000-square-foot production facility in the industrial park located just northeast of the 23rd Street and O’Connell Road intersection in eastern Lawrence.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Brandon Wikoff, president of U.S. Engineering Holdings, speaks at the company’s new Lawrence facility at Lawrence Venture Park on Sept. 15, 2026.

Brandon Wikoff, president of U.S. Engineering Holdings told the Journal-World that the facility will immediately start employing 30 metal fabricators, welders and other high-tech trade positions. Longer term goals are for the facility to employ 60 people.

The new facility is across the street from U.S. Engineering’s primary Lawrence facility, a 165,000-square-foot production center that employs about 165 people.

Wikoff said the company moved ahead on the Lawrence expansion, in part, because of the $4 billion Panasonic electric vehicle battery plant project just down the road in De Soto. Wikoff said the company has seen a large increase in business as construction has progressed on that facility. At one point, US Engineering was using a 15,000-square-foot tent behind its main Lawrence facility to do some work because the building’s production floor was too congested.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

US Engineering Metalworks’ new Lawrence facility northeast of the intersection of 23rd Street and O’Connell Road is pictured on Sept. 15, 2026.

As work on the Panasonic project winds down, US Engineering Metalworks — which is part of Kansas City-based US Engineering — already is seeing a new line of work develop in a large way. The company has been involved in multiple hyper-scale data center projects across the country. Those large facilities require an extensive amount of piping systems to carry the large amounts of water needed to cool the buildings that are packed with heat-generating computer services and other such equipment.

The expansion project received a 70%, 10-year tax abatement from the City of Lawrence as part of an economic development program designed to attract higher-paying jobs to the community. The company has forecasted that the new jobs at the facility will have average wages of between $90,000 and $99,000 per year over the next three years, the company said in its application materials.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

A large piping assembly on the production floor of US Engineering Metalworks’ new Lawrence facility is pictured on Sept. 15, 2026.