Wednesday, Jul. 23, 2008

Corporate merger to help Olathe developments

The sale of an Overland Park-based commercial real estate firm won’t negatively affect the development of two Olathe properties, but speed up their development, it’s president said.

Grubb & Ellis/The Winbury Group, which has offices in Kansas City, Mo. and Lawrence, recently acquired Greenleaf Properties, 7301 W. 133rd St., merging its commercial real estate operations into Winbury, according to a statement from the company.

It said Winbury will lease and manage Greenleaf’s existing and future developments in the Kansas City area, which will be developed as GLP.

Greenleaf is developing two projects in Olathe, Ridgeview Falls at 119th Street and Ridgeview Road and Mur-Len Crossing at 127th Street and Mur-Len Road.

Walt Clements, Greenleaf’s president and co-founder, who will become affiliated with Winbury when the deal takes effect Aug. 1, said Greenleaf had developed enough properties since the company’s inception in 2002 that it was time to get a third-party property manager.

In the statement, Ted Murray, chief executive for Grubb & Ellis/The Winbury Group, said the addition of the Greenleaf portfolio was a “natural move” for both companies.

And with Winbury, Clements said he’s getting “the finest property manager in the city.”

“It gives us a national platform and national exposure on all of our products,” Clements said of the merger.”It was a perfect evolutionary step in the growth of Greenleaf Properties, especially our development division to help us do what we do best, which is develop real estate.”

Ridgeview Falls, a mixed-use development, includes 240,000 square feet of retail and office space and 100 condominiums on 18 acres.

The projected is expected to generate about $60 million in capital investment for Olathe.

Clements said the development already includes a bank, Arby’s and Taco Bueno restuarants and a liquor store.

A nail salon and optometrist would open soon and two corner lots were sold for the construction of CoreFirst Bank, which he expected to begin soon.

With activity on the rest of the development, Clements said he expected completion within the next year or so.

He said construction of Greenleaf’s other Olathe development, Mur-Len crossing, a 170,000-square-foot shopping center on 17.5 acres, should begin early next year.

“This will enable me to have more time to focus on those projects,” Clements said.

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