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BKD moving to Waterfront

December 22, 2003

Sherry Graham
The Wichita Business Journal
December 22, 2003

Public accounting firm BKD LLP, which has had a presence in downtown's SCTelcom building since 1963, will move its 50 employees in 2005 to become a tenant of Commerce Bank's new headquarters building at The Waterfront at 13th and Webb Road.

Bill Pickert, partner in charge of Wichita's BKD office, says the company will lease about 15,000 square feet in Commerce's new building. Foulston Siefkin, the city's largest law firm, will also be a tenant in Commerce's $25 million, 5-story building.

The building is under construction in the $100 million office, shopping and restaurant project being developed by Steve Clark, Johnny Steven and Phil Bundy.

BKD will have about the same amount of space in the Commerce building that it has now in its offices on the 13th floor of the SCTelcom building, Pickert says. The reasons behind the move, he says, include improved convenience for clients and curbside parking. The new location also offers the company the ability to expand existing office space on a single floor, as well as tenancy in an owner-occupied building.

" The fact is that our clients are less and less willing to come down to our offices downtown," Pickert says. "That's been an issue, especially for our individual tax clients."

Pickert says the Waterfront gives the accounting firm an upgraded profile, the opportunity for better signage and an edge in finding new employees.

" A new location will give us the ability to improve and enhance recruiting efforts to bring top quality accounting students to Wichita, which is in competition with other cities to bring students in," Pickert says.

John C. Clevenger, chairman, president and CEO of Commerce Bank, says Commerce will occupy about 35,000 square feet in its new building, while Foulston Siefkin will have about 50,000 square feet. Combined with BKD's space, only 10,000 to 15,000 square feet will remain available for lease.

" We are not going to aggressively go after filling that space immediately. We'd like to have a little flexibility for existing tenants," Clevenger says. "But if a great tenant came along and wanted to talk to us, we'd look at that."

Clark says a firm such as BKD is a good example of the type of tenant the project is designed to attract.

" They're a key tenant for the property and the Commerce building because they are such a quality firm," Clark says. "People are going to go where they want to be, and we are so pleased with the quality of companies that are choosing to locate there."

In addition to Commerce's new headquarters, three restaurants -- Abuelo's, Fox & Hound and P.F. Chang's -- also are under construction. The Waterfront developers have also broken ground on the first phase of a 40,000-square-foot retail center.

Clark also says the project will announce a hotel for the development early next year.

BKD's Pickert says that his company considered several options for relocating, including staying downtown. One consideration was the WaterWalk development project.

" We got some sketchy information about it, but really the specifics were not available to us during the time period we were looking at," Pickert says.

BKD LLP is one of the 10 largest CPA and advisory firms in the United States with 27 offices. The firm provides consulting, tax, assurance, accounting, outsourcing, information technology, investment advisory and corporate finance services.

Brad Saville of Landmark Commercial Real Estate handles new leases for the SCTelecom building. He says that because BKD has some of the nicest space in the building, it should attract other users.

" The lobby and front appearance of their space has very nice finishes," Saville says. "It's an opportunity for somebody looking for 15,000 contiguous square feet on one level."

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