Keith Baker, CCIM, has been a commercial real estate agent in the Kansas City area since 1985. At CB Richard Ellis just east of the Country Club Plaza at 47th and Grand, he specializes in representing tenants/landlords and buyers/sellers of office and medical office properties. In 2009, he was the top producer in the office.
Currently, he markets space for the Creekwood and North Oak professional office parks and is also the lead broker for the Tuileries and New Longview mixed use new urbanism developments. He has also recently worked on site selection assignments for Bank of Oklahoma, Diagnostic Imaging and Sabates Eye Centers, and is currently working on a 100,000-square-foot site selection project for a large financial services organization. ther experience includes repositioning a Topeka company headquarters building into a speculative multi-tenant office building. It was leased to 98%, and then sold to a Topeka based investor. Keith has also developed a 20,000 square foot headquarters office building for a technology company in the Southlake Technology Park located in Lenexa.
How did you begin your real estate career?
I started in the commercial real estate business in 1985 and was hired by Jones & Company Realtors, the developers and joint venture partners of the Corporate Woods Business Park. J & C was purchased by Koll Real Estate Services out of Newport Beach, Calif., in 1995 and then the brokerage and property management divisions of Koll were purchased by CB Richard Ellis in 1998.
You were the top producer last year. How did that happen?
As one of the top producers in the office this year, I was fortunate to have several transactions close that had been in process in 2008. I partnered with Mike Lanning, CPM, a 20-year veteran with CBRE that moved from property management to brokerage and we have been working well together on both the landlord and tenant sides of the business. My experience with production and his with property management gives us a nice blend and the ability to talk on many levels with existing and potential customers.
What types of deals did you close?
Our year included several large transactions at the Summit Technology Campus in Lee’s Summit. Mike and I worked on behalf of Truman Medical Center to terminate their large remaining lease obligation to make way for an existing tenant to expand their premises into 117,000 square feet coupled with a long lease extension. Also at STC we negotiated a new 40,000-square-foot lease with Waddell and Reed, a large local financial institution. On the medical side, we worked on a number of leases including a lease extension for a surgery center in the Creekwood Professional Park in the Northland. We finished up the year with a tenant rep assignment for a large local medical firm that relocated their corporate offices into the 7101 College Boulevard building. Another line of business for us is the General Services Administration Region 5 lease requirements. CBRE is one of three national service providers for the GSA and Mike and I work on that account here locally. As the largest consumer of space in most metro areas, the government has a significant impact on the health of our industry. The GSA is very tuned in to the commercial real estate culture in KC and does a great job representing well over 100 federal agencies.
Tell me about a behind the scenes deal, how did you make it happen?
Probably the most challenging and rewarding part of the year was the first quarter of 2009. Negotiating the termination of the Truman lease and the expansion of the 117,000 tenant had a lot of twists and turns that truly tested us for over a year. It required us to be part of many technology meetings with KCP&L which will be expanding the electrical infrastructure to STC beyond the project’s already heavy capacity. Trying to negotiate with two large companies to time a termination with a new lease commencement required patience and the ability to deal with many personalities and in the end a landlord/owner that believed in what we were trying to accomplish.
What made you job exciting last year, and what were the biggest challenges?
As challenging as this business has been over the last couple of years, I’m really looking forward to 2010. CBRE provides many opportunities, resources and platforms that we can tap into which are very helpful regardless of where we are in the economic cycle. Locally we have some incredibly talented people in our office across all service lines. As our business has become much more about long term customer service rather than the “one and done” service mentality, nationally the CBRE business model is to continually look for ways to integrate services that help us meet a variety of customer needs. Finally, deals don’t get done without the hard work of our peers in this city. I would like to thank everyone that I have worked with this last year and look forward to our opportunities in 2010.
What are your outside interests?
My hobbies include coaching my two daughter’s in softball and basketball. Coaching has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Watching the kids (and the parents) progress through a season is such a treat and when hard work turns into success individually and as a team – there just isn’t anything much better than that! I am also a veteran “dance dad”. For those of you who have daughters in dance, you know what I mean! I enjoy golf, am getting back into tennis and a couple of times a year participate in autocross events. Another passion as a KU alumnus is enjoying watching Bill Self coach basketball and the teams he puts on the floor.