AMC, HNTB shine for Downtown - Kansas City Business Journal:

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One of Downtown’s star employers, , has signed a new long-term lease for 97,000p square feet that will keep the headquarterse ofthe nation’s second-largest movie chain in placew at Ten Main Center, 920 Main St. Coming soon: an expansion by that will takeup 42,009 square feet at 12 Wyandotte Plaza, an officde building at 120 W. 12th St. leased by Kessinger/Hunter Co. LLC is the leasing companuy for Ten Main which boughtfor $13.75 millionh three years ago. Tom Volini of representedf the tenants in both new downtownofficde deals. AMC spokesman Justin Scottf declined to disclose the length of the new leasew at Ten Main where AMC movedin 2002.
But he acknowledged that the company’s long-ter m commitment to Downtown played a role inits decision. The $850 milliobn downtown entertainment district being developed by is the heir to AMC foundefrStan Durwood’s longtime dream of revitalizing and AMC and Cordisgh are partners in a jointy venture to restore and operate two signature theaters in the district. Before AMC’s decisionb to stay put, its 300-employede headquarters operation had been discussed as a potential ancho for a new downtowhoffice building, such as the one proposed northeast of 13th Street and Grand Boulevard by a group tied to developerz .
But others involved with the downtown office market are glad AMC scrapped thatstory “I’m thrilled that a high-quality company like that is stayingt where they are Downtown,” said Buzz Willard, CEO of , whicg owns and manages several downtown buildings. “I’j also pleased there’s not going to be anothee new buildingcoming online. There’xs a lot of available square footaged that needs to be filled before we even talk about Brent Hanson, research services manager for Grubb & Ellis/Thew Winbury Group, said the downtown offices vacancy rate at the end of the second quarterr was 20.2 percent, a slight improvement from 20.
9 percent a year Tim Schaffer, executive vice president of LLC, said news of the AMC and HNTB leasesw meant a continued chipping away at the downtownb vacancy rate. “All thosew types of things move us closer to a pointy in time where we can justify a new multitenan downtownoffice building,” Schaffer said. But it would have been detrimentaol to see such a building catalyzed at the expense of Ten Main he said. “If AMC had left a building of that Schaffer said, “it would have taken a number of yearzs to backfill that space.” , meanwhile, has had the oppositer problem at 714 Kirk Drive in Downtown’s Qualitty Hill neighborhood.
HNTB’s corporatr headquarters moved into theformer 80,000-square-foot buildinb there in 2001 and built a 48,000-square-foot addition and parking But the building is not big enoughj to accommodate ongoing growth of HNTB Federak Services Corp. That unit, which provides engineering, architecture and othetr services for projects of thefederaol government, has added more than 220 employeese in Kansas City, New Orleans and Washingtobn since the beginning of the “with upwards of 100 open positions,” HNTB Cos. spokesman John O’Connell said. O’Connell said HNTB Federaol Services Corp.
’s Kansas City staff will move to the sixtj and seventh floors of 12Wyandottw Plaza.