Look across the skyline of Kansas City. Consider all the bustling mixed-use developments that have boosted the economies in its surrounding communities. And know this: Kansas City-based CRE firm Copaken Brooks has played a key role in many of these iconic commercial real estate developments in and around the city.
This year is a key one for the busy Kansas City firm. That’s because 2022 marks Copaken Brooks’ 100th year in Kansas City, Missouri. That’s a rare feat: Most businesses struggle to last more than a few years. To make it to a century? That’s an impressive feat.
During its 100 years, Copaken Brooks has shaped the geography of Kansas City through developing, leasing and managing many of the area’s most significant properties. Copaken Brooks currently manages and leases nearly 6 million square feet of properties. The company has also developed more than 14.5 million square feet of commercial real estate space to date.
What is behind Copaken Brooks’ long history of success? Keith Copaken, one of the firm’s principals and the grandson of the company’s founder, told Midwest Real Estate News that flexibility and commitment have been the keys. Copaken Brooks has been flexible enough to adjust to changing trends in the commercial real estate business. And the company has long been committed to developing quality spaces.
Copaken pointed to the changes the company went through when his father, Paul Copaken, took a more active role in guiding the firm. The company bolstered its base business of brokerage and rehabbing buildings by focusing, too, on land purchases.
“They were flexible enough to see that demand was going a certain way,” Keith Copaken said. “They bought land in those areas in which they expected to see demand in the future.”
Copaken Brooks also took an active role in developing indoor malls when that business began to boom. The company’s leaders saw that the United States was becoming a society driven by the automobile, something that was changing the shopping habits of consumers. Copaken Brooks got into the mall business, and this turned out to be a lucrative move for many years.
And when indoor malls began to fall out of favor? Copaken Brooks pivoted again, this time focusing on the office sector. Copaken Brooks has since focused, too, on mixed-use space. And today? The firm is working in the industrial and multifamily spaces as those sectors continue to soar.
“We have always had a commitment and belief that we have been on the right track in this industry,” Keith Copaken said. “We can make the changes that we see fit to continue to grow. We are always assessing demand, and that has helped us stay strong for so many years.”
Another reason for Copaken Brooks’ success? The company’s leaders are interested in what Keith Copaken calls place-making.
Creating places in which people want to live, work and play differs depending on where a development is rising, Copaken said. In urban areas, office towers and trendy restaurants might be key. In communities that are still dense but not quite as dense as downtown Kansas City, creating an appropriate place might mean a multifamily building that doesn’t stretch 20-some stories in the air but instead spreads out over a campus-like setting. It might mean office spaces that also spread out more horizontally than they do vertically.
“We are place-makers at heart,” Copaken said. “The places just happen to be different depending on where we are developing.”
A long history of success
The story of Copaken Brooks started in 1922. That’s when Herman Copaken founded Copaken Realtors, Copaken Brooks’ predecessor firm. Thanks to Copaken’s sturdy work ethic, market knowledge and commitment to his clients – and his ability to hire talented people – Copaken Realtors thrived.
Then in 1965, Copaken Realtors changed its name to Copaken White & Blitt, as brothers-in-law Lewis White, Irwin Blitt and Paul Copaken began running the company.
In 2010, the firm adopted its current name through the merger of Copaken White & Blitt — which was then being led by Keith and Jon Copaken — and First Scout Realty Advisors, a real estate firm that was founded in 1991 by Bucky Brooks.
The firm today is still led by principals Jon and Keith Copaken and Brooks. And the future looks bright, as Copaken Brooks continues to pivot along with the ever-evolving commercial real estate landscape.
Making an impact
Throughout its history, Copaken Brooks has made a significant impact on the skyline of Kansas City and the commercial districts of its surrounding communities.
Some of Copaken Brooks’ key developments in the Kansas City area include corporate office, industrial and retail mainstays such as Nordstrom at Oak Park Mall, Town Pavilion, City Center Lenexa, Cambridge Crest, The Plaza Colonnade, 1201 Walnut, Corrigan Station and Arterra.
Copaken Brooks was instrumental, too, in shaping the entire southeast quadrant of College Boulevard and Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park, Kansas, and in creating a new downtown in Lenexa, Kansas. The company also developed the iconic Town Pavilion and 1201 Walnut, two of the tallest buildings dotting Kansas City’s skyline. Copaken Brooks also led the development of two of the first high-rise apartment projects in the Crossroads Arts District.
Today, a bit more than 80 people work for Copaken Brooks, with a staff of 35 in the company’s corporate office. The company is currently leasing, managing and developing space on behalf of about 30 investment groups.
“We try to treat each of our associates as we’d like to be treated ourselves,” Keith Copaken said. “It’s important to us that the people who work here can see their kids’ basketball games. We think it’s important that our people can go to a doctor’s appointment when they need to. We are very understanding and flexible. We know that people have a life outside of work.”
This doesn’t mean that the people at Copaken Brooks don’t work hard. They do. But Copaken says that work-life balance remains important.
To help celebrate its century in business, Copaken Brooks has created a new 100-year logo. According to the company, this logo is a visual representation of the firm’s deep roots in Kansas City.
While Copaken Brooks is celebrating its past this year, the company is also looking toward the future, with several major development projects active today.
Keith Copaken points to the Lenexa City Center in Lenexa, Kansas, as an example. This is a 2-million-square-foot mixed-use project that is becoming Lenexa’s new downtown core. This project should be completed in the next year or two, he said.
Copaken also points to the work that Copaken Brooks is doing in the Crossroads district of Kansas City and in the city’s CBD. Copaken Brooks has strategic land holdings in this slice of the city that are slated for residential and office development.
Then there is the 1.6-million-square-foot industrial warehouse portfolio that Copaken Brooks has purchased on Cambridge Circle Drive in Kansas City, Kansas.
“I have truly enjoyed my time working here,” Keith Copaken said. “I have had the opportunity to work with my father and uncles, my brothers and my cousins. I have enjoyed the responsibility that came quickly for me here, responsibility that might not have come as quickly to me if I had been working at a larger company.”
