Thrasher to build new HQ at Southlake Office Park

Construction has begun on a new KC office headquarters for Thrasher Foundation Repair, a midwest foundation repair company, at Southlake Office Park in Lenexa, Kan.

The five-acre site, acquired from developer City+Ventures, is located near I-35 and Renner Blvd. and will serve as Thrasher’s new, 25,000-SF Kansas City headquarters, providing both office and warehouse space.

“Southlake Office Park continues to see significant momentum and interest from a variety of users,” said Chris Erickson, co-founder of City+Ventures.

“The demand for quality space in a prime location such as this is driving market activity for the region. We enthusiastically welcome Thrasher and are excited for the future of Southlake.”

JLL, who represents City+Ventures at Southlake, plans for investing in new building amenities, providing Class-A common areas and tenant finishes and developing the interior land sites with complimentary uses for the existing office tenants.

Southlake has additional land available for purchase, ranging from three to 15 acres or for build-to-suit opportunities. This is the second tract sold at the Southlake Office Park this year, following JLL’s completed sale of a 3.6-acre site for a new VA clinic in January 2020.

Southlake offers a variety of options for businesses with both Class A and B office offerings, flex space for companies requiring warehouse or loading capabilities, and 45 acres for development. The park has an on-site daycare center, on-site management office, the Lenexa Conference Center and the Lenexa Chamber of Commerce, and is strategically located in the center of Johnson County with easy access to I-35, I-435 and K-10 Highways.

Current amenities include three miles of walking trails, 10 well-stocked ponds, redundant high-speed fiber and dual power feeds. New amenities and upgrades to the properties have commenced construction this year, including Class-A common areas and tenant finishes, new monument signage for the entire park, new exterior painting of the Tech Center buildings, updated landscaping and the development of interior land sites with complimentary uses for the existing office tenants.

The design/construction team for Thrasher Foundation Repair project is comprised of Ryan Companies, TACK Architecture and Sidekick Development.

Established in 1975, Thrasher Foundation Repair is a part of Thrasher Group and does basement waterproofing, foundation repair, and concrete repair based out of Omaha, Neb., with regional locations in Wichita, Kansas City, Des Moines, Sioux City and Grand Island.

For more information about Southlake Office Park properties, please contact RJ Trowbridge at rj.trowbridge@am.jll.com.

The project, which is currently under construction, has an anticipated completion date of Q3 2021.

Fear is no deterrent to seizing new opportunities for this CREW

Jennifer Hart, president and owner of Hartline Construction, LLC, and Suzie Aron, president of Aron Real Estate, joined moderator Asia Campbell, business development manager at Kansas City Area Development Council (KCADC), last week for a virtual discussion about showing up at work and in life, part of the Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI) and CREW KC “Fearless Series.”

Hart worked as an architect for several years until she was furloughed during the ‘08-’09 recession. She went to work in construction because contractors’ work had not dried up. 

In 2011, Hart founded Hartline Construction. According to Hart, education, perseverance and networking made her fearless in allowing her to move on from her job loss and not give up. 

“I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been told by a male, maybe someone above me, that I can’t do it. So right then that told me why not me?  I can.  You’ve got to turn what you might be able to do into action and make it happen,” Hart said.

When Hart opened her company she did not want any special favors because she was female and had always succeeded at her job before. Consequently, she resisted getting WBE and SLBE certified by the City of Kansas City, Mo.

Her company since has been awarded SLBE (Small Local Business Enterprise), WBE (Women Business Enterprise) and DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) certifications. She admits that the certifications hove opened a lot of doors for her, for Hartline and for her team, including a contract to work on the Kansas City International Airport construction project.

“So don’t be afraid to go ahead and utilize that tool - because we, as females, as much as we don’t want to admit it, sometimes we’re underestimated and we want to show them how powerful we can be,” said Hart.

Hart encouraged the audience members to network.

“I cannot tell you how much has come my direction by networking out in the community and giving back to the community because they call me and say ‘hey, I heard about this project you might want to take a look at,’” Hart said.

Aron, who started out as a community volunteer, said the key to being fearless is figuring out who you are.

“I’m an extroverted person, and I also think outside the box. One way is to look as to what’s out there and where the opportunity is. For somebody like me, it’s looking around and deciding what kind of community do I want?” said Aron.

Several years ago, Aron, who had worked as a real estate broker for many years, took interest in the Crossroads District, then a neighborhood of empty buildings. She saw opportunity to build a community. 

“All of our buildings were abandoned. Eighty percent of our neighborhood was blighted, and because of that, there were opportunities in terms of cheap rents, for putting in sweat equity, for how you might consider doing something that you wouldn’t have been able to do if it was a terrific, only healthy bunch of options out there,” said Aron.

Seizing on the opportunity, Aron was instrumental in developing the Crossroads arts, business and entertainment district.             

Aron said the pandemic has created opportunities to make changes to our community, and she encouraged the audience, while everyone is on pause, to consider what kind of community they want going forward.

“I really think we have an extraordinary opportunity to build and come back and save and create the kind of community we want because we’ve all seen that we’re starting to look at things that we took for granted and say do we want to do things the same way. And, I would encourage us not to,” Aron said.