Ken Jaggers is managing director of Integra Realty Resources – Kansas City, a nationwide firm that offers broad and comprehensive valuation and counseling services. He began his career in commercial real estate in 1987 as an investment officer with a subsidiary of Metropolitan Life in Overland Park, then in Washington D.C., and Boston. He joined BankBoston in 1991, then came back to Kansas City and joined Integra in 1993. Since that time he has completed appraisals on commercial properties of all types, primarily for institutional investors and for litigation. Unique properties include the 1,140,000-square-foot IRS Processing facilities and the 600,000- square-foot Overland Park International Trade Center.
What area of your business is most active these days?
Our practice is almost exclusively commercial real estate (CRE). We continue to see a significant amount of work from our traditional commercial and local bank clients. This includes appraisals for new loans and renewals as well as appraisals of the collateral for troubled or non-accrual loans and bank owned properties. We are fortunate to have thriving eminent domain, estate planning, litigation and consulting practices as well. Integra Realty Resources – Kansas City has common ownership with the Chicago and St. Louis Integra offices. I am the managing director of Integra Realty Resources – St. Louis as well. Our practice in St. Louis leans more toward eminent domain and consulting. Between the three offices we have 22 appraisers and analysts including 3 MAIs, an ASA, 3 CPAs, an attorney, and Relocation and Acquisition Specialists. As you can see, we are ready for just about anything.
Give us a behind the scenes look at something you’ve done for a client or two recently.
We have recently completed appraisals of the Sanofi Aventis campus in Kansas City, Missouri, Black & Veatch Headquarters and Corporate Woods in Overland Park (below) and of two newly constructed apartment properties in the Kansas City area. For a pension advisor we are presently appraising a 19 office and industrial property portfolio in the D.C. area and a 34 apartment property portfolio with locations throughout the United States.
Are your clients’ needs changing with the economic slowdown?
Most definitely. Our services provided to banks are now multi-dimensional. We continue to see and complete appraisal requests for new loans and renewals. Bank clients will sometimes have a different scope of work for the appraisal of distressed and bank owned properties. We are also doing more non-valuation consulting for banks, attorneys and municipal clients.
Speaking of the slow down, what are people in the business looking to you for?
Recently I have completed some price sensitivity consulting on the sell out of development lots and condominiums. Also, I have had several meetings with our bank clients who have needed assistance interpreting the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) required appraisal contracting process and the Uniform Standards for Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).
How do you stay on top of the trends in commercial real estate these days?
We have to talk to people continually. We talk to local, regional and national investors and developers and lenders. Appraisal work is a little like being a private investigator. You gather the data from numerous sources and analyze the pieces to solve the problem. Every appraisal or consulting assignment is different and we strive to provide our clients with the current and credible information necessary for them to make well-reasoned and thoughtful decisions regarding their property. It is important for clients to understand the big picture. How and why are apartments less distressed as a property type than others? When will the CMBS market come back? And most importantly, when can we expect some market transactions? These are questions I get asked every day and I do my best to keep current in order to answer them.
What’s been your major role in our community over the past few years?
Professionally I am very fortunate to have been involved with the Kansas Speedway and Legends at Village West. Initially, we provided appraisal and acquisition services to the UG comprised of 175 parcels totaling 1,200 acres. Our involvement with the public finance process continued with IRR Corporate and Public Finance, a related company. We were instrumental in this project for over 10 years. At the request of the EDC and the City of Kansas City, Missouri our firm appraised over 70 separate parcels, vacant and improved, as part of the East Village, Power & Light/H&R Block, and Sprint Arena redevelopments. I enjoy working with the Kansas City EDC and have had the privilege of consulting on many of Kansas City’s redevelopment projects over the last 10 years. I am currently the President of the Kansas City Chapter of the Appraisal Institute and a member of the Westwood, Kansas Planning Commission.
Tell me about the ViewPoint publication and how it’s grown.
We are uniquely positioned to give the broadest coverage of CRE market specifics. Integra has 650 appraisal and consulting professionals in 59 offices all working in support of our annual Viewpoint survey as well as the quarterly update, Market Pulse. Every week I meet someone new who references Viewpoint. Viewpoint allows us to host the annual Real Estate Trends and Investment Criteria Forecast. 2010 was our eighth year and for the last two we partnered with UMKC Lewis White Real Estate Center. This event has been very well received in the community attracting developers, lenders, attorneys, and economic development professionals.
What’s a good day for you, personally?
That changes from week to week along with my family’s activities. Right now I am excited about my daughter’s middle school musical. I will say that any day golfing, fishing or hunting is a pretty great day.