FRANKFORT, Ky. — Construction on a new project has been two decades in the making. A groundbreaking ceremony took place Tuesday, for a new joint-force headquarters at the Boone National Guard Center in Frankfort.

What You Need To Know

  • Officials broke ground on a new Kentucky National Guard Joint Force Headquarters building in Frankfort
  • Planning for the 63,000 square foot, two-story building started about 20 years ago

  • The project is expected to cost $15.6 million in federal funds

  • Construction is expected to wrap up in Sept. 2023

Brigadier General Steven King said it will help bring every function of the National Guard into one building.

“This facility will allow our adjutant general to conduct mission command over Army National Guard forces out of one facility and having his key personnel available to him within that structure,” King said.

The ceremony brought out Kentucky’s top officials to celebrate, including Gov. Andy Beshear, who thanked the Guard for its efforts during the pandemic.

“I know each and every one of you is an incredible individual, but together you represent and bring out the very best of us, even encouraging and lifting us up so that we can be better,” he said.

Kentucky Adjutant General Hal Lamberton said the new headquarters will make the Kentucky National Guard more viable in the future.

"The previous building that we had on this site — the CSMS, the Consolidated Support Maintenance Shop — actually, when I became a full-time guardsmen, that was the first location behind us where I worked,” he said. “And even at that junction, it was about 60 years old.”

He said leaders in the National Guard, emergency response teams, and the Department of Military Affairs will all occupy the building, along with some offices that are currently off-site due to space.

“It’s kind of a busting at the seams sort of dynamic,” Lamberton said. “Literally, each one of those entities I just described to you are all crammed into the one space; this will enable us to spread out a little more.”

Lamberton was also promoted to major general before the groundbreaking, which he said will give him more credibility when he’s in the room with other military leaders in Washington, D.C.

“And quite simply, the offices, the other people that you’ll engage with are more inclined to be attentive to what you say,” he said.

The new Kentucky National Guard headquarters is expected to cost about $15.6 million in federal funds and will wrap up in Sept. 2023. 

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