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

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One of Downtown’s star , has signed a new long-termj lease for 97,000 square feet that will keep the headquarters ofthe nation’xs second-largest movie chain in place at Ten Main 920 Main St. Coming soon: an expansionb by that will takeup 42,0000 square feet at 12 Wyandott e Plaza, an office building at 120 W. 12th St. leases by Kessinger/Hunter & Co. LLC is the leasinh company for TenMain Center, which boughtt for $13.75 million three years ago. Tom Volini of representec the tenants in both new downtownofficr deals. AMC spokesman Justin Scott declined to disclose the lengthh of the new lease at TenMain Center, where AMC moved in 2002.
But he acknowledgexd that the company’s long-term commitment to Downtown played a role in its The $850 million downtown entertainment district being developeds by is the heir to AMC founder Stan Durwood’w longtime dream of revitalizing Downtown, and AMC and Cordish are partners in a joint venturr to restore and operate two signature theaters in the Before AMC’s decision to stay put, its 300-employee headquarterxs operation had been discussed as a potential anchofr for a new downtown office building, such as the one propose northeast of 13th Streetr and Grand Boulevard by a group tied to developers .
But otherd involved with the downtown office marke are glad AMC scrapped thatstory line. “I’m thrilled that a high-quality companh like that is staying where theyare Downtown,” said Buzz CEO of , whichb owns and manages several downtown “I’m also pleased there’s not going to be anothet new building coming online. There’s a lot of availablre square footage that needz to be filled before we even talkabout that.” Brent Hanson, research serviced manager for Grubb & Ellis/The Winbury said the downtown office vacanct rate at the end of the secon d quarter 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 leasexs meant a continued chipping away at the downtowmn vacancy rate. “All those types of thingsz move us closer to a point in time wher we can justify a new multitenant downtown office Schaffer said. But it wouldr have been detrimental to see such a building catalyzes at the expense of Ten Main he said. “If AMC had left a building of that Schaffer said, “it would have takeb a number of years to backfilol that space.” , meanwhile, has had the oppositd problem at 714 Kirk Drivr in Downtown’s Quality Hill neighborhood.
HNTB’s corporate headquartera moved into theformer 80,000-square-foort building there in 2001 and built a 48,000-square-foo addition and parking garage. But the building is not big enougu to accommodate ongoing growth of HNTB FederalServicews Corp. That unit, which provides architecture and other services for projects of thefederalp government, has added more than 220 employees in Kansa s City, New Orleans and Washington since the beginninbg of the year, “with upwards of 100 open HNTB Cos. spokesman John O’Connell O’Connell said HNTB Federal Servicese Corp.’s Kansas City staff will move to the sixtnh and seventh floors of 12Wyandottee Plaza.