The 30-year history of Ingram's has coincided with some of the most dramatic and significant developments in the history of metro Kansas City. In many ways, this period saw the region successfully overcome some of its greatest challenges and position itself for progress on several fronts. The groundbreaking transactions, strategic decisions and collaboration that follow had much to do with that progress.
Categorizing these events is not easy. While the significance of several is obvious, others surprise. For every revolutionary Sprint World Headquarters or Kansas Speedway, there is the quiet evolution of an industrial park or the subtle blossoming of the urban loft phenomenon. Several of these deals are geographically focused, including the rise of two major corridors, several new economic districts and the re-emergence of downtown. But other advances could have happened anywhere. The Stowers Institute, for instance, would have transformed Kansas City's sense of self no matter where it was located.
Enjoy this tour of several of the more significant projects and events that have shaped Kansas City's business landscape.
Last Is Definitely Not Least
H&R Block headquarters in Downtown Kansas City and Cordish Company's $400 million, seven- block entertainment district, both to be developed represented undeniable proof that the Downtown revival has become a reality.
One of the biggest deals could be the most recent: H&R Block's decision to relocate its headquarters in Downtown Kansas City, heightened by the simultaneous announcement of a $400 million, seven-block entertainment district to be developed by proven Baltimore developer, The Cordish Co. Announced in December 2003, both projects are to be located in the south loop and represent undeniable proof that the Downtown revival is based in reality.
While the development's timing could not have been better, this was not an isolated event. As with several Downtown initiatives, this type of project was anticipated and influenced by the 2000 Sasaki Report, a collaborative examination of the KC urban core's potential.
Paul Copaken of Copaken, White & Blitt, believes the Sasaki Report set the stage for several major deals, including the Block-Cordish plan. "That is a significant transaction for downtown Kansas City," he notes. "But all of the things that are being talked about now, from the entertainment district to the H&R Block develop- ment to loft condos, were contained in [the Sasaki] plan. It set up the structure to allow these things to happen."
In the Beginning
Thirty years ago, the Kansas City region was closing one of its most dramatic eras in public construction. When the first issue of this magazine hit the streets in December 1975, both the Truman Sports Complex and Kansas City International Airport had been recently completed. Downtown, Kansas City had just finished a series of major developments that included opening the Commerce Tower, expanding the Muehlebach Hotel and transforming old Signboard Hill into what we know today as Crown Center.
According to Whitney Kerr, Sr. with Colliers Turley Martin Tucker Commercial Real Estate Services, the development of KCI in many ways remains the biggest deal in Kansas City history. "It was just huge," he says. "In terms of major impact on this community, I can't think of any larger. If we hadn't had that airport, I think we would have been no better than a fourth- tier city. That set the ground for much of what followed."
Crown Center was also significant. Opened in stages just before this magazine's founding, Crown Center was conceived in 1966 as part of an urban redevelopment effort on 85 of the most blighted acres in Kansas City's Urban Core. Even long-time Hallmark Cards and Hall family fans had doubts that the $60 million redevelopment could succeed.
When the first 400,000 square foot multi-use center opened in 1973--with the Westin Hotel complex, apartments and cultural center arrayed in breathtaking style--Crown Center established itself as a unique destination in Kansas City.
Suburban Living…and Working
An equally significant development in the early 1970s took place in cornfields and pastures of Johnson County. Much of this early focus was along a gravel lane-- today known as College Boulevard. The biggest breakthrough was the development of Corporate Woods, but the corridor's name and public visibility came from the new Johnson County Community College.
Dennis McKee, president of the Johnson County Economic Research Institute, Inc., observes that the scope of change south of 95th Street is hard to digest, even today. "There was nothing there and now almost everything seems like it's there," he says. "It's been simply amazing."
The college began with a 1969 bond issue. In the fall of 1972, classes opened with more than 3,600 students. Today, nearly 40,000 students enroll each semester, making it among the largest institutions of higher learning in Kansas and the region. More recently, the Kansas Board of Regents opened its nearby Edwards Campus, raising the question of whether College Boulevard should now be posted as a plural.
The region's most significant private development began further east in the 1960s, when developers began assembling property in the area that would become Corporate Woods. The development took off in 1975 when planners Sasaki, Walker & Associates conceived a distinctive "wooded suburban" setting for an office park with waking trails and meandering creeks. The rest, as they say, is history. Corporate Woods became the anchor for southern Johnson County, an area whose growth has eclipsed that of downtown Kansas City. By 2004 the development included a major hotel, retail center and dozens of office buildings totaling more than two million square feet of what is undeniably among the region's finest office park.
Overland Park Mayor Ed Eilert believes that Corporate Woods' influence quickly spread beyond its boundaries. "It set the standard for everything that followed," he notes. "It was the benchmark office park development along College Boulevard."
Corporate Woods' commercial success generated both housing and retail growth throughout the region. Although residential expansion was already evident in the area, this new opportunity to live and work in Johnson County became a significant draw. Even stately Leawood, best known for tree-lined streets and beautiful homes, joined the retail boom with developments such as Town Center Plaza.
Taking Wing
At almost the opposite end of metropolitan Kansas City, other developments were taking off, some quite literally. With the opening of KCI in 1972, speculation in surrounding property had become almost frantic but, other than a few hotels and commercial buildings, little of the anticipated development actually occurred for nearly two decades.
One of the more important exceptions occurred in 1975 when the office, distribution and light industrial AirWorld Center opened along I-29. While other developments had started in the area, AirWorld would prove a continuing magnet for national and international operations.
Impetus for the development came when the national financial institution, Wachovia Bank, contacted Hugh Zimmer regarding investment opportunities in Kansas City. The bank's financing and an emphasis on sustain- able development gave AirWorld the ability to succeed over the long haul.
"We agreed the growth up there (near KCI) called for a conservative plan," says Zimmer. "That's what we had and it worked."
Elsewhere in the region, although few single projects qualify as major deals, residential development flourished. Lee's Summit was laying the groundwork to become one of the fastest growing cities in Missouri with projects such as Lake Woods and Raintree Lake. Nearby, Independence and Blue Springs were showing similar signs of growth eastward along the I-70 corridor. In Johnson County, rooftops were keeping pace with the developing office parks along College Boulevard.