Polsinelli Shughart PC, a national law firm founded in 1972 in Kansas City, announced today that the firm’s two Kansas City, Missouri, office locations would merge into a new, $57 million, eight-story national headquarters building to be developed and owned by Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) in the heart of the historic Country Club Plaza, subject to the project obtaining the required regulatory approvals.
Located on the northeast corner of 47th Street and Broadway, this 192,000-square-foot Class A office building will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED”) certified. It will bear the Polsinelli Shughart signage and will complement the traditional design of other Plaza office and retail buildings. In total, the new headquarters is expected to accommodate nearly 500 employees, including more than 300 attorneys and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2013.
“We could not be more pleased to have our own building in the center of the Plaza, where our firm began nearly 40 years ago,” said Russell Welsh, Chairman of Polsinelli Shughart.
Ed Fritsch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Highwoods Properties, commented, “We are excited to have this build-to-suit opportunity to develop a headquarters building for such a well-respected law firm as Polsinelli Shughart. This new headquarters building is destined to further enhance their presence in Kansas City and will bolster the long-term success of our Country Club Plaza, which remains a premier destination throughout the Midwest.”
Since its successful 2009 merger with Shughart Thomson & Kilroy, P.C., Polsinelli Shughart has maintained two offices in Kansas City – in the downtown area at Twelve Wyandotte Plaza (120 West 12th Street) and at the western edge of the Country Club Plaza (700 West 47th Street). The firm also has and will maintain an office in suburban Overland Park, Kansas, housing approximately 50 attorneys. The firm was advised in its search for a headquarters property by a team from Block Real Estate Services LLC, led by Kenneth Block, managing principal.
Welsh noted that the Polsinelli Shughart headquarters will be constructed without the use of public development tax incentives.
“As our firm continues to grow, nearly half of our lawyers are outside of the metro area. However, we wanted to ensure that our national headquarters remained in Kansas City. Highwoods’ commitment to Kansas City as the owner of Country Club Plaza and our commitment is a win/win for our firm and for our City,” said Welsh. “We believe incentives can be important tools to spur development, but because incentives are not unlimited, we are pleased that our new building will be able to preserve those incentives for others.”
For more information contact:
Polsinelli Shughart
Heather McMichael
816-395-0618,
Highwoods Properties
Tabitha Zane
919-431-1529,
Parris Communications
Bob Inderman
816-931-8900,
About Polsinelli Shughart PC
With more than 500 attorneys, Polsinelli Shughart PC (www.polsinelli.com) is a national law firm that is a recognized leader in the areas of business litigation, financial services, business law, real estate, health care, life sciences, construction, environmental and natural resources, and labor and employment. Serving corporate, institutional and individual clients regionally, nationally and worldwide, Polsinelli Shughart is known for successfully applying forward-thinking strategies for both straightforward and complex legal matters. The firm has 16 offices located in Kansas City, St. Louis, Phoenix, Chicago, Denver, Washington, New York, Wilmington, Overland Park, Topeka, St. Joseph, Springfield, Jefferson City, and Edwardsville, Ill.
About Highwoods Properties
Highwoods Properties, Inc., a member of the S&P MidCap 400 Index, is a fully integrated, self-administered real estate investment trust (“REIT”) that provides leasing, management, development, construction and other customer-related services for its properties and for third parties. At June 30, 2010, the Company owned or had an interest in 330 in-service office, industrial and retail properties encompassing approximately 32.0 million square feet. Highwoods also owned 581 acres of development land. Highwoods is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and its properties and development land are located in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. For more information about Highwoods Properties, please visit our Web site at www.highwoods.com.
Certain matters discussed in this press release, such as the projected cost, impact and timing of Highwoods’ development activity, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are distinguished by use of the words "will", "expect", "intend" and words of similar meaning. Although Highwoods believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be achieved.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Highwoods' current expectations include, among others, the following: the financial condition of our customers could deteriorate; development activity by our competitors in our existing markets could result in excessive supply of properties relative to customer demand; development, acquisition, reinvestment, disposition or joint venture projects may not be completed as quickly or on as favorable terms as anticipated; we may not be able to lease or re-lease second generation space quickly or on as favorable terms as old leases; our Southeastern and Midwestern markets may suffer declines in economic growth; we may not be able to lease our newly constructed buildings as quickly or on as favorable terms as originally anticipated; unanticipated increases in interest rates could increase our debt service costs; we may not be able to meet our liquidity requirements or obtain capital on favorable terms to fund our working capital needs and growth initiatives or to repay or refinance outstanding debt upon maturity; the Company could lose key executive officers; and others detailed in the Company’s 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent SEC reports.