Mergers and Acquisitions

$26.5 billion Sprint and T-Mobile merger paves stability for Johnson County

Last week a federal judge ruled in favor of the $26.5 billion Sprint and T-Mobile merger, shutting down anti-trust arguments brought by a group of attorney generals and clearing the way for the merger to close as early as April this year.

Prior to this ruling, reports of concerns on the stability of Sprint as a standalone company if the merger was blocked, created uncertainty of Sprint and T-Mobiles’ future office presence in South Johnson County. 

"These fears are now alleviated, as the merger will pave the way for stability in the Kansas City office market and the companies’ commitment to remaining in Kansas City. All signs point to continued stability in Johnson County," according to a recent report by JLL Research*.

The former Sprint Campus, now renamed as The Campus, sold to Occidental Management in July 2019. That quarter, availability in South Johnson County increased 0.4% after several former Sprint spaces became available. 

Availability in South Johnson County currently stands at 13.7%, below the market average of 16.2%.

Sprint currently occupies an estimated 2.2M SF of The Campus, with long-term leases to remain in about 1M SF. Sprint has also committed to at least $25M of capital investment to improve their long-term space.

About 1.5M SF is currently leased by third party tenants; 120,000 SF of which was leased since Occidental acquired The Campus. About 130,000 SF is currently available and marketed for lease. Occidental Management plans to invest significant capital in the campus to add amenities and attract third-party tenants.

A Place For Mom recently leased 42,000 SF at The Campus to house their first Kansas City office and has plans to hire 600 new employees to the KC metro.

Sprint currently employs 6,000 people at the campus and has shared speculative plans to hire 1,000 more.

*Statistics, opinions and other facts in this article sourced by JLL Research.

CoStar acquires RentPath for $588 million

CoStar Group, Inc., the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire RentPath’s business for $588 million in cash, in connection with RentPath’s recently announced Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

RentPath’s primary service is digital marketing for rental properties through a network of Internet listing websites including Rent.com, ApartmentGuide.com, Rentals.com and Lovely.com.

The RentPath network of websites generated over 21 million monthly visits and almost 9 million monthly unique visitors in 2019, according to comScore, and had approximately 28,000 properties advertised on its network as of December 2019.

“RentPath has a 30-year track record of outstanding service to the multifamily industry, developing thousands of meaningful customer relationships,” said Andrew C. Florance, founder and CEO of CoStar Group.

Following restructuring in bankruptcy, CoStar Group expects the combined companies to benefit from synergies and plans to invest in building RentPath’s online brands and traffic to provide improved quantity and quality of lead flow to advertising clients.

“We believe that RentPath’s talented and experienced employees will become valuable contributors not only to our Apartments.com network of sites but across all of our marketplaces.” Florance said.

The closing of the transaction is subject to various conditions, including approval by the bankruptcy court and regulatory approval, according to the release. 

Superior Bowen expands, acquires O'Donnell and Sons and two asphalt plants

Superior Bowen, one of Kansas City’s largest site-work and road contractors, has acquired O'Donnell & Sons Construction, an Olathe-based, third-generation family business founded in 1973.

In addition, Superior Bowen has acquired the Olathe and Louisburg asphalt plants of the Hamm Companies, based out of Topeka, Ks.

The double-down expansion maintains the company's commitment to Johnson County, Ks, while further extending its industry-leading capabilities.

"The acquisition of O'Donnell & Sons Construction, as well as the Olathe and Louisburg plants of the Hamm companies, were the perfect opportunities to continue that growth-focused strategy. We're proud to keep this key component of our region's economy in local hands," said Trey Bowen, CEO of Superior Bowen.

After a period of underinvestment, the State of Kansas has significantly increased its planned infrastructure spending for 2020 and beyond.

Superior Bowen already operates one asphalt plant in Olathe; the acquisitions will add the capacity required to serve the growing economic development needs of the area.

The acquisitions also leverage the company’s September 2019 investment in XBE, the leading science and technology platform for horizontal construction.

By building its robust management infrastructure on innovative software, Superior Bowen is able to scale with the needs of its market and lead the way in helping other horizontal construction companies achieve similar efficiencies.

"Superior Bowen exists to build things of lasting value. By adding the talented employees of O'Donnell & Sons to our experienced team, we'll be able to build even more of our community together,” Bowen said.