Savoy Tea Co. joins The District at Lenexa City Center

Copaken Brooks has announced Savoy Tea Company will be joining the Shops at The District at Lenexa City Center.

This is the first Kansas City location for the company, which has locations throughout northwest Arkansas and Oklahoma City, Okla.

Founded in Rogers, Ark. in 2011, Savoy Tea Co. carries over 150 specialty and rare teas sourced from tea gardens and family farms spanning across the world. Each of the specialty flavored teas are crafted by Savoy Tea Company, formulated to perfection by their professional team of Tea Specialists at the Savoy Tea Laboratory in Fayetteville, Ark.

“Kansas City has such an incredible small business community, and we’re thrilled to join those ranks,” said Bill Beyer, a Certified Tea Specialist and Tea Blender who co-owns Savoy with his wife, Tina Beyer, an Internationally Certified Tea Sommelier.

Bill and Tina Beyer have been educated by the Specialty Tea Institute of America, an accredited institution that leads the nation in tea education curriculum.

Savoy Tea Co. plans to use its team of experts to teach a diverse arrangement of tea classes, specialty tastings, and communal workshops partnered with fellow local Kansas City businesses to educate the community on all thing’s tea.

“We’re excited to plant our roots in Lenexa, which we hope will be the first of many locations throughout the metropolitan area,”Beyer said.

Erin Johnston, vice president of retail brokerage at Copaken Brooks, represented both Savoy Tea and The District in the deal.

“We toured various spaces throughout the greater metro with Savoy, but it was clear that The District was the best fit for their expansion into the Kansas City market, Lenexa’s new downtown continues to be a top destination for small businesses, and we’re proud to have a unique specialty shop like Savoy at our property,” Johnston said.

When fully developed, Lenexa City Center will consist of more than 2 million SF, including civic components for the City of Lenexa, nearly 1 million SF of office and retail and 375 residential units. The District Shops will include a variety of unique stores, restaurants and cafes in the heart of Lenexa’s new downtown.

Incite Design Studio hires leadership team for new Overland Park office

Incite Design Studio, LLC (iDS), a client-focused architectural design firm, has hired a new leadership team to open its third office.

The recent office addition, located in downtown Overland Park, Kan. at 7930 Santa Fe Drive, will join the firm’s two other offices in Kansas City, Mo. at 110 West 18th Street and in St. Louis, Mo. at 1800 Lafayette Avenue.                                                 

Brian Foxworthy, president of iDS, also recently announced his team for the new Overland Park office. Architect, Duane Cash will lead the team as office director to manage and grow the firm’s efforts in Kansas. Project manager, Mike Brown and job captain, Ariel Peisen Burow will join Cash.  

Foxworthy, who has built the firm from the grassroots into one of the largest education-focused firms based in Kansas City, says he is happy to have found someone with the same core values as himself (in Cash).

“Cash believes in forming relationships and building a practice based on quality service. When the opportunity presented itself to bring him and his team into the iDS family, I jumped at it. It’s not often you meet a group of like-minded folks that understand your vision of success and share your dedication to designing inspiring spaces for our future learners. We couldn’t be more excited to see what the future holds for our firm” Foxworthy said.

Following the firm’s tagline of “architects building relationships,” iDS has developed lasting relationships with school districts across the state of Missouri. The opening of incite Design Studio Kansas shows the commitment to forming relationships with districts throughout Kansas as well.

Cash says their goal is to better serve the Kansas education clients with a studio comprised of a few dedicated teams that can be focused on service.

“Our belief is that when firms get too big, they start to lose the agility, responsiveness, and dedication that our clients deserve. With this approach of three studio offices, we provide the muscle of a big firm, but with the individual guidance, creativity, and empathy of a smaller firm,” said Cash. 

“I’m exhilarated by iDS’s dedication to client service, progressive design, student focused learning, and the use of pioneering technology,” said Cash.

The firm is growing in all three offices. Besides opening the Kansas office, they recently hired Aaron Ledesma as a project manager and Connor Privett as an architectural designer in the KC office.  Marena Modica was hired to head up the interior design efforts in the St. Louis office.

Farm co-op plows ahead with plans for former Toys R Us building

The vacated Toys R Us Kansas City distribution facility in Lee’s Summit made national headlines when the retailer folded in early 2018. However, brisk demand for large, tenant-ready industrial space meant that the property sold quickly.

“The amount of interest from all over the country was quite impressive,” said Joe Accurso, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield. “The availability of a high-quality, fully racked, industrial building of this size doesn’t come along very often.”

More than two dozen potential buyers toured the 725,000-square foot facility at 420 SE Thompson Dr. near U.S. Hwy 50 and Mo. 291. Coincidentally the first company to come calling, Mid-States Distributing LLC, emerged as the winning bidder for the 41-acre property.

“This facility was an ideal fit for our rapidly growing company. When we learned of its availability, we knew the stars were aligning for us in a very special way,” said Mid-States President & CEO Tom Mahlke. “The Toys R Us situation, while very unfortunate for many, became our great fortune. We worked hard and aggressively because this was a great location geographically for our members.”

The leading farm and ranch retail store cooperative plans to invest more than $35 million in the distribution center, which will service a network of 39 member companies and nearly 700 retail locations in the U.S. and Canada. Mid-States will commence operations in the facility by the end of the year with immediate plans to hire between 30 and 35 employees within the next month to launch the operation.

Lee’s Summit Economic Development Council President Rick McDowell said the high level of interest in the former Toys R Us space signals ongoing strength in the warehouse and distribution market and room for more activity in south Lee’s Summit.

“We had tremendous interest in that building,” McDowell said. “That leads me to believe that the addition of Mid-States will serve as a catalyst for ongoing business expansion and attraction in Lee’s Summit’s south side commerce corridor.”

Added Cushman & Wakefield’s Joe Accurso: “This property has created a wealth of opportunity for Lee’s Summit. I’m happy to see the building and area full of activity again.”