Panelists:
Dave Menke, President, Opus Development Company, L.L.C.
Joe Downs, Vice President of Real Estate Development, Opus Development Company, L.L.C.
Oscar Healy, Regional Vice President, Opus Design Build, L.L.C.
Gary Schuberth, Principal, Opus AE Group, L.L.C.
Event Name: Urban Land Institute’s Breakfast with Leaders: Making it Happen in Mid-Tier Markets
Moderator: Devon Coffey, Real Estate Representative, Opus Development Company, L.L.C.
Key Points:
Q: Opus has had an office in Kansas City for decades. What’s different about the Opus presence here now?
A: The Opus Group and previous Opus companies have had longtime presence in Kansas City, and our team is a testament to that experience. Oscar Healy and the team have built a great portfolio in the Kansas City area, including the
AMC Theatre Support Center and several other
Park Place buildings,
Kansas Leadership Center and the K-State School of Leadership Studies. Joe Downs joined the team about four years ago to expand that work to St. Louis. Now the team runs the Missouri market collaboratively.
Q: What projects do you currently have underway? Why are they unique and significant?
A: The KC/STL team has created incredible real estate in the state, starting with
District Flats, then
Citizen Park,
North Clayton Luxury Apartments and Bunge. District Flats recently won a
Design-Build Institute of America-Mid-America Region Honor Award and Citizen Park continues to get acknowledgments in the press as we near completion.
Q: Opus is known for a collaborative approach and is applying that amongst the members of the Kansas City and St. Louis teams. How does Opus benefit from that approach?
A: We’ve had a presence in Kansas City for some time, and while our entrance in St. Louis is more recent it is really taking off, we really operate as a single team—KC and STL and development, design and construction—to support these markets. It’s the same single team we operate as in our other offices and on remote projects across the country.
Q: How will Opus add value to the community?
A: Whether it’s our commitment to leading development and construction of sustainable building projects, to delivering developments that are in keeping with the communities we build, or our to stewardship and giving back in those communities, our commitment drives our work and decisions, which is demonstrated daily. Here are just a few examples:
- Citizen Park in St. Louis was very intentionally designed and crafted to help preserve the character of the historic Central West End neighborhood.
- Throughout the country, our portfolio includes 42 LEED Certified buildings, totaling more than 11 million square feet, including Kansas Leadership Center in Wichita.
- In 2015, Operation Breakthrough was named the inaugural Gerry Rauenhorst Building Community Award winner and awarded a $62,000 grant.
- Over the past two years, the Opus Foundation® has contributed just short of a half million dollars to nonprofit organizations in the Kansas City and St. Louis markets, including a grant to
Youth Learning Center.