Jones Lang LaSalle Expands to Full-Service Platform in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- To provide more comprehensive real estate services in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area and deepen its industrial practice, Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL) has entered into an agreement to acquire Capital Realty. The Kansas City-area commercial real estate firm specializes in leasing, property management and sales of industrial, office and retail properties; land sales; and project management and development services. The acquisition is scheduled to close within the next week, subject to customary closing conditions.

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Capital Realty President Kevin Wilkerson will join JLL as Managing Regional Director along with 24 real estate experts and staff who add significant strength and depth to JLL's existing team of industrial, office and tenant representation brokers. He will lead the Industrial Team and partner with Managing Regional Director Larry Glaze, who leads the Office Tenant Representation team, to drive growth in the Kansas City market. Jeffrey Kembel and Phillip Algrim, both Senior Vice Presidents at Capital Realty, will join JLL as Senior Vice Presidents.

Merging operations and adding Capital Realty's local expertise will strengthen the platform of comprehensive services the global real estate firm provides in the market. Capital Realty currently manages approximately 90 properties, totaling 5.4 million square feet, across the Kansas City area for regional and local institutional owners. As a hub city for the transportation, freight and rail industries, Kansas City presents significant growth opportunities in the industrial sector.

"Adding Capital Realty's leading local real estate expertise to our global services and resources will allow us to expand the services we can provide in the Kansas City market, an area that plays a critical role in the national supply chain," said Glaze. "We're partnering with one of the most highly regarded, 'best-in-class' brokerage teams in the market, and anticipate that our combined team will accomplish great things for our clients."

Wilkerson brings more than 25 years of experience to JLL, including brokerage and development services for third-party local, regional, and national companies; and the development of 21 industrial and office properties valued in excess of $140 million. Kembel, who holds an SIOR designation, has 20 years of commercial brokerage experience in landlord representation for institutional office assets, as well as corporate real estate advisory for national corporations.  As one of the leading industrial brokers in the Kansas City area, Algrim, who also holds an SIOR designation, has focused his 15 years of real estate experience primarily on providing brokerage services to tenants and landlords from local, regional and national companies.  

"By joining JLL, we're able to open new doors for our clients and provide them with access to the full suite of JLL services," said Wilkerson. "We'll become a market leader in the Kansas City area with a firm that represents a perfect cultural match for our company, and has a reputation for excellence in the market and across the industry."

"We are always looking for opportunities and people to strengthen our teams in growing markets and consider Capital Realty an ideal partner in the Kansas City area," said Paul Whitman, President of Jones Lang LaSalle's Dallas-Fort Worth market, which includes the Kansas City area. "Our firms' cultures reflect common approaches to client relationships, focused on transparency, respect and trust. Broadening our platform with deepened industrial, agency leasing and property management expertise will open new doors to opportunities for growth."

Demonstrating post-recession highs, real estate Industrial research identifies Kansas City as one of the nation's prime industrial markets, ranking in the top 15 national markets for total inventory and lowest 10 markets for vacancy. Forces driving momentum for the peaking industrial sector are sites welcoming auto plant reinvestments, rail intermodal development and data centers, and abundant "big box" land sites – ideal distribution sites for the booming e-commerce industry.

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About Jones Lang LaSalle

Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. With annual revenue of $3.9 billion, Jones Lang LaSalle operates in 70 countries from more than 1,000 locations worldwide. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services to a property portfolio of 2.6 billion square feet and completed $63 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2012. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $46.3 billion of real estate assets under management. For further information, visit www.jll.com.

SOURCE Jones Lang LaSalle