Cloverleaf Office Park upgrades as employees return to offices

In Northeast Johnson County, owners of the 50-acre Cloverleaf Office Park have completed a number of timely upgrades to ease apprehension as employees return to company offices.

Cloverleaf’s renovations include virus-killing HVAC technology, enhanced outdoor work and event space, solar-panel powered amenities and elevated security. The office park, which spans ten buildings and 400,000 SF, is located at the southeast corner of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Metcalf.

“We have created a desirable, convenient and healthy work environment where office users will feel comfortable coming to work every day, and our tenants couldn’t be more excited,” said Ned O’Connor, founder of Waterford Property Company and leasing agent and asset manager of Cloverleaf. “In addition to improving air quality within the buildings, we’ve created a unique outdoor setting by leveraging our position as one of the few large office parks in Johnson County with significant greenspace.”

After planting 235 new trees, 2,250 plants and shrubs, and 3,000 tulips, the office park has nearly finished restoring the greenspace to its original appearance 19 years ago.

For many workers, rising vaccination rates and falling mask mandates have encouraged a slow return to office space, but safety concerns remain as the pandemic continues. Cloverleaf has addressed these viable concerns about health and safety by providing flexible workspace and amenities.

For companies seeking short-term collaboration or specific project work, flexible meeting spaces for non-tenants is also available to the community by reservation.

Tenants returning to work or moving into Cloverleaf will enjoy the following enhancements:

• HVAC ultraviolet lighting – Hospitals, data centers and other critical infrastructure have used UV light at air intakes for years to kill the viruses, bacteria and molds that commonly accumulate in HVAC equipment. UVC, the UV light spectrum Cloverleaf uses, provides the maximum germicidal effect across all buildings.

• Solar panel tables – Solar canopies convert sunlight to power and store it in benches at five outdoor workspaces, which are accessible to all tenants. Free wi-fi is available throughout Cloverleaf.

• Founder’s Park – Founder’s Park is a central plaza perfect for events and team building. It is outfitted with two gas grills, café-style tables and chairs, table tennis, a bag-toss game area, and a fire pit surrounded by Adirondack chairs and an Ipe wood bench.

• Security – Cloverleaf has installed 24-hour, motion-activated, surveillance security cameras across the park and has upgraded building access systems.

• Socially distanced meeting space – The park now has two conference rooms available to all tenants at no cost. One has the capacity for 30 people, the other for 50.

O’Connor also noted that providing a clean, secure and amenity-rich work environment had become a critical differentiator in the office market as companies reassess or reorganize their space needs.

“The demands of the modern workforce are changing constantly,” he said, “and Cloverleaf will always be committed to staying ahead of those demands.”

Matt Condon, the founder and CEO of Bardavon Health Innovations and a Cloverleaf tenant for 15 years, says that the value of officing with Cloverleaf extends far beyond amenities.

“Cloverleaf has been a true partner to us as we’ve grown through the years and required more or different space; it hasn’t been your typical landlord-tenant negotiation,” Condon said. “It’s been ideal to not only have great space with a lot of amenities, but also a landlord that will partner with you to prioritize flexibility and optionality.

“Coming out of COVID, Cloverleaf has also been very forward-thinking about health and safety accommodations as we gear up to return to the office,” Condon added. “It’s very important to me as a CEO that I can communicate that with my team so they know their landlord is looking out for their health.”

To learn more Cloverleaf and its upgrades, to reserve a collaborative meeting space or to schedule a tour, you may call Ned O’Connor at (913)-789-9000 or visit cloverleafofficepark.com.

New KC city manager shares future plans, priorities

Improving efficiencies and supporting underserved communities are among the top priorities for Kansas City, Missouri’s new city manager, Brian Platt.

This week, KC Downtowners welcomed Platt as their monthly virtual luncheon speaker.  Kim Gile, community reference manager for Kansas City Public Library and president of KC Downtowners, moderated. 

Platt, who formerly served as city manager/business administrator for Jersey City, New Jersey, began his role in Kansas City on December 7, 2020.

Citing the city’s $70 million budget deficit for the next year, Platt said he is committed to finding ways to provide and deliver city services without reducing personnel, emergency response times or any crucial services. 

“We’re looking at a lot of ways where we can provide the same services, possibly even provide more of those services, in a much more efficient and cost-effective manner,” said Platt. 

Platt said that since he arrived, the city already has made some specific and aggressive changes to the snow removal policy to make sure that the city is removing snow quickly and efficiently.

As an example, Platt pointed out converting city street lights to LED lights could, over time, cut the annual cost for street lights and their maintenance by nearly one-half.

Platt said he is approaching his new position by listening and learning from the city’s residents and stakeholders to see what the biggest challenges are and will work collectively and collaboratively to identify the best path forward.

“I’m not coming in here and saying this is how I think things should be,” said Platt.

The day before Platt assumed his position, the Kansas City Star released its report on racism in the fire department.  One of the first challenges with which Platt was tasked was tackling systemic racism within city government.

“This problem exists and transcends far beyond the fire department.  It’s in all of our departments and it’s even beyond the halls of city hall, so to speak. It’s a cultural challenge that is not going to be something that we solve overnight,” Platt said.

Platt said the city will be making some big investments to increase staffing in its human resources department and providing management training to make sure managers know the types of behaviors that are acceptable and the best ways to support their staff.

Platt supports making economic development incentives more widely available to underserved communities where there might be some local developers or property owners that have the ability to build a successful project, but might not know or understand the incentive process.

Platt has been speaking with city council members privately - and discussing publicly with community groups - the need for a very detailed, specific and comprehensive development and incentive policy for the entire city.

“One of the ways that a better policy (with) more transparency, more openness will be helpful is anyone in the city, not just the biggest players, not just those with the means and those with the most resources, have access to those incentives.  There seem to be plenty of incentives available.  It’s not a question necessarily of, for the most part, making more incentives available, it’s a question of getting them into the right hands and ensuring that we’re giving them only in the circumstances and cases with the highest need,” Platt said.

Moving from a part of the country where the river is such an important part of the city, Platt was surprised to see so little development along Kansas City’s Riverfront.

“I think there’s a huge opportunity to do more stuff along the waterfront even if it’s just like restaurants and social activities and that sort of thing.  But, it’s one of those resources that absolutely has a lot more potential,” Platt said.

He also said that discussions are underway internally about the opportunity for energy capture from the river itself.

“You think about solar, you think about wind, but we also should think about hydroelectric power.  The water flowing down that river, you may not notice if you look at it, but there are tens of thousands of gallons flowing by every second and that energy and that force of water can be a big, literally, creator of power for the city,” said Platt.

CBRE's Colleen McPherson Roble shares state of 2021 healthcare market

Colleen McPherson Roble is a senior associate at CBRE and has over 20 years of experience in sales and leasing in the healthcare industry. More recently, she has focused on meeting the real estate needs of physician groups and investors. Colleen’s connections span nationwide and the relationships she has forged with physician tenants/building owners, investors and healthcare colleagues has led to marked increases in profitability and overall return on investments. Her leads originate from physician practices that lease or own their medical office space. She can be reached at colleen.mcpherson@cbre.com. Let’s get to know Colleen:

RT: What asset class in CRE do you focus on and why?

I have dedicated 20 years to the healthcare leasing and capital markets niche. I started in Phoenix in 2000 as the “office condo queen” and most of my clients were physician owners. As healthcare systems changed, many physician groups became employed by the hospitals. Hospital systems began monetizing medical office buildings to REITs and I adapted by working on sale/leasebacks and leasing for REIT landlords and medical practice tenants.

RT: What are market trends you are experiencing with your clients currently?

COVID-19 has impacted practices bottom line with lower patient visit volumes due to risk/reward concerns for elective procedures and routine appointments. Tele-health has increased tremendously this year, office waiting areas are spread out, patient testing prior to office visits has been implemented and numbers of visitors allowed with patients has been dialed back. I am pleased physicians will all be vaccinated first, as they must be commended for serving patients without skipping a beat even when there was the unknown risk of the COVID-19 virus.

RT: What do you see the local and national CRE rebound including?

We are currently offering a Pandemic Relief Solution for medical practices at the Welltower (real estate investment trust) portfolio of rent abatement for several months in 2021, as this will be with us awhile. With the low interest rates, a new party in the White House and other changes in healthcare we are seeing with reimbursements, I believe we are cycling back toward more physician groups working independently and considering purchasing their outpatient office spaces again.

RT: What have you done to adapt to the changes in CRE?

In order to succeed in healthcare real estate, you must be nimble because outpatient medical office situations are impacted by not only patient demand; but by hospital system strategic plans and capitalization and government. In the end, a medical tenant building is the most solid form of real estate investment, medical practices are stable and always going to be a demand service. From a marketing perspective, the current trend is toward virtual tours with tools such as Matterport and Zoom that are efficient, safer and easier for busy physicians to tour space.

RT: What challenges and opportunities are your main asset classes facing now?

COVOD-19 has posed the biggest challenge this year causing financial strain on medical practices not experienced leading to unheard of requests for rent abatement and reduction of suite size. On a positive note, the pandemic has brought about changes from air quality improvement in the office, to increased tele-health and technology implementation, to improved sanitary protection procedures making a medical office a safer place going forward.

Are you optimistic about the state of the market in Kansas City?

I am optimistic about the healthcare niche in Kansas City as the hospital systems are strong, people are staying in town, as work from home is a more acceptable practice. People are moving to Kansas City due to the better cost of living, again positively impacting patient volume. Once the country has been vaccinated in 2021, there will also be a pent-up demand for elective procedures and in person visits, which will also be positive for outpatient medical office buildings.

RT: Can you share any other current and future projections?

Lease rates will stay solid as they are tied to higher tenant improvement allowances required for medical office than regular office. Shorter term lease commitments may loom, as practices want to stay as nimble as possible as telehealth grows in popularity. Overall, I expect the outpatient medical office market to stabilize in 2021.