How NMTCs transform KC communities

A handful of transformative development projects across the Kansas City area are underway, thanks to New Market Tax Credits, a federal financing tool that is stimulating development in the communities that need it most.

Most of these credits are used in large, transformative real estate projects valued at $10 million or above, while others are used for smaller investments (valued at $500,000 to $1 million) for capital needs such as equipment, plant expansion, and owner occupied real estate that help low income community businesses grow.

Each year, the federal government allocates $3.5 billion nationally. And in 2015, Enterprise Financial Community Development Entity (EFCDE), a subsidiary of Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ: EFSC), was awarded $65 million– its third allocation in a row, and the fourth in the last 5 allocation rounds. To date, EFCDE has deployed roughly $183 million in allocations.

We spoke with Enterprise Bank’s Jeff Friesen, senior vice president and director of commercial real estate – Kansas City, and Mitch Baris, president of Enterprise Tax Credit Services, to learn more about the world of NMTCs. Here’s a look at four major Kansas City projects coming to fruition as a result of new market tax credits.

Westport Commons

EFCDE just closed on its latest loan, a $5 million allocation, to the developers of Westport Commons. Kansas City Sustainable Development Partners plans to convert the 160,000-square-foot Westport Middle School into the biggest co-working space in the world, designed to benefit Kansas City’s emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem and respond to businesses’ demands for more collaborative workspace. Space will be leased to for-profit and non-profit tenants, including corporate innovation groups, communications/media, entrepreneurs, technology start-ups, arts organizations and sustainability groups.

The project also received another $10 million allocation provided by AltCap. U.S. Bank Community Development Corporation was the tax credit equity investor in both the New Markets and Federal historic tax credit equity in the project. Enterprise Bank invested in the State historic tax credit equity, and provided some of the debt, along with Missouri Bank.

Sioux Chief Manufacturing

Another project on the horizon that benefited from new market tax credits is Sioux Chief Manufacturing’s new 596,000-square-foot plant located at CenterPoint Intermodal Facility. EFCDE, AltCap, Central Bank CDE, the Port KC and US Bank/USBCDC provided $34.5 million in NMTC allocation, equity and structured financing for the project. The plant, which will be completed in 2016, will accommodate the company’s growing business which expects to create 100 to 150 jobs over the next three to five years.

Three Trails Park

Because the first building in a new park is always the most difficult, as spending on new infrastructure items – sewer lines, roads, etc. – must be started with the first building. What enabled this to happen was EFCDE, Central Bank CDE and USBCDC’s $6.5 million allocation in New Market Tax Credits and equity for the project.

Crossroads Charter School

EFCDE and USBCDC allocated a total of $6.5 million NMTCs and provided equity to this project. Enterprise Bank & Trust provided bridge financing. The financing provided is what allows this Charter School to expand its offerings, and its space, for the future educational needs of this low-income community.

EFCDE says there are a number of reasons why it’s received one of the largest NMTC allocations in 2015.

“There are many reasons why EFCDE received one of the largest allocations of NMTCs in the country in 2015. We are now an experienced CDE, with a proven track record to quickly deploy allocations received – $183 million to-date. We have also designated a significant portion of our allocations in all rounds to non-metropolitan areas, with a proven track record to get these deals closed,” Baris said.

“Also, our two pronged deployment approach to utilizing allocation to not only large transformative projects, but also to smaller capital fund deals, has created a unique model,” Friesen said. “ In addition, we have committed to deploying a sizable portion of our allocation in Kansas – a state considered “underserved” by NMTC allocations. Finally, the fact that we can bring Enterprise Bank & Trust – a very experienced NMTC lender (and the most difficult piece of the complicated NMTC puzzle) to the table only helps our case of being able to deploy allocation quickly after receipt.”

Colliers International’s Deal of the Week

Cadast Investment Company sold a 49,931-square-foot retail building located at 6001-6201 Independence Ave. in Kansas City, Mo. The buyer, Gen X Echo B, was represented by Jeff Berg and Mark Arensberg of Colliers, while the seller was represented by Vic Cascio of Newmark Grubb Zimmer.

KCRAR Commercial awards spotlight top producing local brokers

The local chapter of KCRAR Commercial is shuffling the way it decides which member of the brokerage community deserve its highest annual awards. KCRAR Commercial Vice Chairman Tom Houts of Cushman & Wakefield described the changes the committee was making at the KCRAR Commercial annual awards ceremony, held last week at Populous’ new space at 4800 Main St.

“It’s amazing the animosity and pushback you receive from collecting this data. The committee was wondering why we were pushing something that people were resisting? We made a decision at that point to change this. We get it that not everyone wants to list out their deals. Starting today, we’re going to look at more holistic volumes and the complexity of deals,” he said. “Moving forward, we’re going to take the burden off the brokers of submitting numbers, and their deals, and really put it on the awards committee. They’ll analyze data and figure out the appropriate winners.”

This year, seven brokers from five area brokerage houses took home top honors in their respective categories. Here’s a look at each of the winners.

The top volume dealmaker of the year in the investment world was Jeff Stingley of CBRE. Stingley had a capstone 2015 year with a total transaction volume of $480 million. But his favorite statistic of the year represents the fact that half of his transactions in 2015 brought a new owner to the market.

“I think it shows the desirability of Kansas City as a market for these guys to place millions of dollars of investment in. They don’t do that lightly. They do due diligence and they like what they see,” Stingley said.

All in all, the Kansas City market saw $950 million in total transaction volume for the year, and because some deals manage to sneak under the rug, he feels completely confident calling Kansas City a billion dollar market. Compare that to cities like Twin Cities, which also had a billion dollar year but is double the size of Kansas City. St. Louis, in comparison, brought in $650 million in deals while Cincinnati saw roughly $350 million.

The retail volume dealmaker of the year went to David Hickman of CBRE, who completed more than 2 million square feet worth of transactions in 2015, including the sale of Metro North Mall and an 88,000-foot-lease with AMC.

“Nothing is accomplished without a great team of coworkers at CBRE KC retail department, and the unbelievable network of talented retail brokers in KC that I shared many transactions with in 2015,” Hickman said in a statement.

In the industrial world, Whitney Kerr Jr. of Cushman & Wakefield took home the award for top volume, having completed some of the largest industrial transactions in the city in 2015.

Greg Swetnam of Kessinger Hunter took home the top volume award for the office category, thanks to his involvement in one of the largest renewals at the Country Club Plaza and in Crown Center.

“As most of us know, it’s all about relationships,” Swetnam said. “We do a lot of transactions, but it’s really a transactional business around a relationship.”

The KCRAR Commercial annual Rookie of the Year award is an award based upon production, community service, ethics, education, and contribution to the local association. The award winner, Matt Ledom of Block Real Estate Services, began his career in 2013 as an investment sales specialist — or as Ken Block calls it, “Probably the hardest thing you can do.” To date, Ledom has been involved in the sale of more than 400,000 square feet of commercial space worth more than $43 million.

But it wasn’t always easy. Ken Block says he and other company leaders would give Ledom pep talks, encouraging him to arrive to work early, leave late, make a lot of calls and relationships, and promised him he’d get the hang of it.

“Let me tell you what I think,” Block said. “The guys that have luck are the people that put themselves in that position by hard work, by dedication, and by being in a place to be lucky. You don’t get lucky if you’re not working. He kept at it with a lot of dedication and I have to tell you, he got lucky.”

The next award on the docket, the Roger Cohen Salesperson of the Year award went to Michael Sonnenberg of NAI LaSala-Sonnenberg Heartland. The criteria is based upon an exceptional record of ethics, cooperation with fellow brokers, contributions to the association. Sonnenberg, a partner with the firm, has served as a commercial realtor in both Kansas City and St. Louis and has been involved in more than $100 million worth of transactions in office, medical office, and retail sales.

Finally, Pat McGannon of Kessinger Hunter took home the Allen J. Block Broker of the Year award. Named in honor of an icon of the local brokerage community, the award highlighted McGannon’s career, which began in 1994 and now entails overseeing the industrial arm of 8 Kessinger Hunter brokers who handle leasing and sales for more than 9 million square feet of industrial properties in the Kansas City area.

Get the scoop on the next upcoming networking events with KCRAR Commercial and other groups by visiting our event calendar.

Why FSW chose KC for its thriving e-commerce business

Food Service Warehouse is a Denver-based e-commerce company that supplies food service equipment to restaurants and individuals throughout the U.S. Although the company is headquartered in Denver, it recently consolidated operations into a 475,000-square-foot facility in Hunt Midwest Subtropolis in Kansas City, where it has an option to expand up to 1 million square feet. Randy Cooke, director of distribution for FSW, explained to members of the Kansas City Area Development Council’s E.D. Alliance why his firm chose to locate and grow its operations here in Kansas City.

Cooke knows firsthand how quickly his company is growing. When he began working for the company, he had three hourly associates. Within a month, he had 60 associates working under him.

In 2014, FSW signed a 10-year lease with Hunt Midwest for 475,000 square feet, with the option to expand up to 1 million square feet of warehouse space. According to Cooke, FSW CEO Madhu Natarajan knew that locating within Subtropolis would provide his company the flexibility to expand quickly.

Shortly after the ink on the contract dried, Cooke took on the challenge of consolidating two warehouses — one in Denver and another 200,000 square foot space in Kansas City — into one unified space, while simultaneously ramping up hiring. Within a month, Cooke had grown his team from 5 hourly associates to 60, and moved 350 trailer loads of product from Denver to Kansas City without any service interruption to hist customers.

Today, FSW is a one-shift operation employing 43 full-time associates in the underground space at Hunt Midwest Subtropolis. There, the company stores approximately 4 million different items totaling $14 million worth of inventory.

He shared with the KCADC E.D. Alliance his challenges encountered during his company’s growth spurt, and what benefits he’s realized from locating within Kansas City.

As one of Amazon’s vendors, Food Service Warehouse is now shipping its products internationally to Canada, and will soon begin shipping to Mexico as well. It’s also landing new national restaurant accounts, like Bojangles, a southern fast food restaurant chain with 675 locations that just finished its IPO and plans to open an additional 40 to 50 stores in the coming years.

“We’ve got a big growth potential and all of that is coming out of Kansas City,” Cooke said.

On Kansas City’s talent pool

Growing quickly presents a number of challenges, Cooke said, especially as it comes to hiring. As a Kansas native, Cooke knew FSW could find a high quality of labor in Kansas City.

“I’ve worked on both coasts and will brag about the work ethic in the Midwest. I feel like we have a better quality. I think we have people that care more and enjoy coming to work. When I was on the east coast it was difficult to get that kind of attitude,” he said. “I look at it from an e-commerce standpoint; My box is my storefront. I have to find those associates who care what they’re doing, because they’re making that presentation when it goes out to the customers.”

But because the company identifies as itself as young, edgy and tech-savvy, Cooke struggled to find the right mix of younger associates who would not only adapt to the technology more easily, but would remain with the company for a longer period of time.

“We had to ramp up so quickly that I went through temp agencies,” he said. “I struggled a bit. We didn’t do that much advertising just because we didn’t have time to put a plan together.
Where I think I would have better success is if I had done campus recruiting.”

Despite his struggles, Cooke is clearly doing something right. Of the employees he hired roughly one year ago, he’s only seen a 2 percent turnover rate.

On the advantages of being underground

One of the newest items FSW plans to carry are K-Cups, the individual coffee serving cup designed for the Keurig. Because they must be stored at a certain temperature, it’s easy to carry these items in Subtropolis, where the climate is an average 72 degrees year-round.

Cooke said his truck drivers benefit from 24/7 access, while he enjoys the perk of avoiding weather elements.

For more information on FoodServiceWarehouse, including a blog designed specifically for new and upcoming restaurant owners, visit the company’s website.

The hot buttons in office design to attract millennials

BY GUEST COLUMNIST SAM SAIA, BHC RHODES

There are many things the group of Americans born between 1980 and the mid-2000’s are called (i.e. lazy, entitled, self-expressive, open-minded) but one thing is for sure, they are the largest generation in the U.S. and will be an important part of the economy for years to come. This group of Americans are known as “Millennials.” They are the first generation to have access to the internet during their most impressionable age which has made them (among other things) connected. Growing up during the time when technology made great advances, this generation had the upper hand in becoming innovative tech-savvy multitaskers who want to work for companies with the same characteristics. The salary they bring home is not as important to them as working towards something they believe in.

According to TIME Magazine, there is an estimated 53.5 million millennials in the work force and this is only expected to grow as millennials currently enrolled in college graduate and begin working. Being a company which provides technical professional services, it was imperative our new office design attract the millennial generation.

What do millennials want most out of their work environment? The ability for teaming and being collaborative. In this world of always on the go, mobility is key to make communication easier, so we installed Wi-Fi throughout the office and all employees were provided with a laptop. Open meeting spaces were included in the design to encourage collaboration and numerous “huddle” spots were incorporated to allow small teams to get together for impromptu meetings. All that was needed to create this impromptu space was a small table, access to a phone and a dry erase board.

Our mobility plan also provided a mobile flat screen which can be wheeled anywhere in the office and enables teams to duplicate their laptop screen onto the flat screen wherever their meeting is taking place. This is great for video conferencing and reviewing multiple documents all at once. The ease of mobility has been of huge importance for our managers who work remotely. With the use of video conferencing, collaboration has not suffered.

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