KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is building a new field office in Kansas City’s Northland for more than 300 agents.

The agency said more space will help agents work with their expanded law enforcement responsibilities.

The federal government will spend more than $102 million over 20 years to lease nearly 137,000 square feet of office space along Interstate 29.

Located in between the Kansas City Police Department’s North Patrol Division and a Kansas City fire station, the new field office will be home to more than 300 agents and task force officers who have seen their law enforcement roles expand in the last quarter century.

“I think it has greatly evolved from our focus on terrorism to our now, mission focus on cyber crimes and cyber national security matters, as well as counterintelligence,” said Charles Dayoub, special agent in charge of Kansas City’s FBI field office.

“I think the world is way different than it was back over 20 years ago when we first built our building,” he said. “I think now with these new capabilities, we will have a building to match what we need to do operationally.”

The FBI also hopes to serve the Northland community better at its new location. The agency already has a Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory established in the Northland.

FBI agents are expected to move into the new field office from their current downtown location in fall 2023.