Ingram's April 2024

Big Three, Sprint Corp. changed the very face of the regional commercial realty market for office space by opening the first in a series of buildings that would eventually span 3.9 million square feet. Sprint, of course, has become a victim of famous change with its formal acquisi tion by T-Mobile in 2020. Yet we continue to live today with the consequences of Sprint’s construction spree as Wichita based Occidental Management breathes new life—and even more construction— into the Overland Park campus. How about some weather-related change? Twice in this decade, first in 1993, then again five years later, Mother Nature unloaded on the Kansas City region in ways that would prove trans formative for its stormwater manage ment and public safety. Just as the city had experienced the Flood of ’77 on the Country Club Plaza, the intensity of each deluge proved deadly. In addition to lives surrendered, the two storms in the ‘90s inflicted an estimated $150 million in property losses. In response, federal, AGENTS OF CHANGE: Within a single de cade, Kansas City voters elected their first black mayor, Emanuel Cleaver, and the first woman to hold the title, Kay Barnes.

Companies Founded in the ‘90s

Among companies founded in the 1990s that continue to operate in the Kansas City area are, by year of founding: 1990: Capitol Federal Foundation, Children’s Mercy Foundation, Perspective 1992: BHC, Franke Shultz & Mullen, Heart to Heart International, Mega Industries, NIC, Inc., VML 1993: Compass Minerals, International Express Trucking 1994: Euronet Worldwide, United Excel (now StructSure), Stowers Institute 1995: ECCO Select, Rouse Frets 1996: Hoefer Welker, Infinite Energy Construction, ProActive solutions, PURE Workplace Solutions, Truckmovers 1997: Berkowitz Oliver, DLR, EPR Properties, Selective Site Consultants, UTXL, Wagstaff & Cartmell 1998: Alexander Mechanical, Dairy Farmers of America, Finkle + Williams Architecture, Freightquote, Nationwide Transportation & Logistics Services, Propio Language Services, The University of Kansas Health System 1999: Center for Drug-Free Sport, DEG, Emfluence, Intouch Solutions, Rhycom, Sanders Warrant & Russe ll Architecture + Design 1991: Branch Pattern, Excel Construction

what those transformations have done to the character of this metropolitan area and our shared identity. Ahead of The Curve Here’s a socially relevant for-instance: While the nation today buzzes about the hierarchy of power and who retains it, Kansas City was at the vanguard of change in the 1990s: On the front end, voters selected Emanuel Cleaver as the city’s first black mayor; after two terms, he passed the gavel to Kay Barnes, the voters’ choice for their first woman in that office. Save for the four-year run of Mark Funkhouser in that role from 2007 2011, no other white male has occupied the office. Here’s an example from the world of commerce: During the 1990s, on its rise to become the region’s largest private sector employer and one of telecom’s

BUSY SIGNAL: When the Sprint Corp. headquarters campus opened in Overland Park, the aftershocks rumbled throughout the regional office market for commercial realty. By the time construction wrapped up, nearly 4 million new feet of Class A space was available.

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I ngr am ’ s

April 2024

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