The facility was built in the area that was formerly the B'ankor Refuge. After the B'ankora were forcefully relocated, construction of this facility began. Esteemed scientist Galen Erso visited the site while construction was still ongoing and received very preferential treatment during his visit. The building took over ten months to complete.
By the facility's completion, it stood a towering, multilevel, cubical masterpiece that was comparable to the headquarters of Helical HyperCom on Lokori. It was complete with surveillance towers, air control stations, and a landing field. Starfighters were stationed at the facility if they were needed to defend it. Security around the facility was tight and enforced by the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order in addition to other Imperial agencies of significant standing. Imperial researchers constantly were ferried in and out of the facility as well as materials. Airspeeders transported such materials around the facility to the smaller landing accommodations on the roof of the building, where they could be moved throughout the building via the vast turbolifts that descended all the way through the building.
In addition the turbolifts, the inside of the building had many different functions. The upper levels of the facility were used mainly for warehousing. The facility had lower levels as well as sub-bedrock ones where maintenance rooms, power stations, laser installations, research-and-development centers, laboratories, libraries, and living spaces that could accommodate 2,500 staff were located. Erso himself had his own office with a separate library, computer room, communications suite, and residence for him and his family.
Although some citizens initially objected to the facility being created, Imperial media ensured the downplaying of the project, and the sentiments of the opposition soon passed.