By Thomas Friestad

Kansas City’s office market has been resilient, with robust 2025 leasing activity in spite of economic disruptions and uncertainty.

Last month, the metro area capped off its fourth consecutive quarter of positive office absorption, bringing the area to an average 17.8% vacancy, according to CBRE’s Kansas City office. Momentum was fueled by tenants’ continuing “flight to quality” Class A properties, with noticeably more concentration of the biggest deals this year to date in North and South Johnson County. Whereas greater downtown Kansas City saw several major leases completed through third-quarter 2024, its largest new lease publicized in 2025 so far ranked only 10th largest within the metro overall.

Office assets still are finding success both in Kansas City’s suburbs and urban core, owing to their proximity to retail, restaurants and professional services, compared to increasingly obsolete alternatives that struggle to compete in amenity deserts, according to a “State of Space” report published by Newmark Zimmer this summer.

“The winners in today’s office market are those who have adapted quickly and strategically,” the firm’s report reads. “They are in locations that people want to be in. They offer buildings that support how people want to work. And they understand that in a hybrid world, the office must earn the commute. While challenges remain, opportunity abounds for those who can meet the market
with innovation, insight and agility.”

Here are the area’s 10 largest office transactions this year, as outlined across quarterly reports published by CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, JLL and Newmark Zimmer. It includes new leases, subleases and renewals by square footage:

Fiserv Inc. in April confirmed it would lease 427,000 square feet at 6500 and 6550 Sprint Parkway in Overland Park’s Aspiria campus for a strategic fintech hub. The deal drew fanfare from Kansas leaders and economic development officials, who said it marked the largest office recruitment in the state’s history and, perhaps, the area’s largest lease by a new-to-market company. Milwaukee-based Fiserv could net more than $154 million in state incentives over 10 years and invest $175 million in renovations to the former Sprint Corp. offices, potentially to include building a new lobby, according to Johnson County property records. The firm said it expected to open its new hub in two phases, starting in 2026, and hire as many as 2,000 full-time employees by March 2030.

Kiewit Corp. announced it would lease the full 177,000-square-foot K3 office building at 8600 Renner Blvd. on its Lenexa City Center campus. The Omaha-based construction and engineering services company started work on the six-story build-to-suit offices in 2023 and was projected to occupy them by August as part of an employee consolidation plan. K3 became the fourth and final planned building on Kiewit’s campus, which it occupies through a sale-leaseback arrangement with an out-of-town joint venture. Its completion brought the metro to just under 25,000 of new office space under construction as of the second quarter’s end, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. signed a lease renewal for 127,340 square feet at 11500 Ash St., its headquarters in Leawood’s Park Place, in the third quarter.

Southwind Management in February shared plans to move to a 108,410-square-foot new headquarters at 6300 Lamar Ave., a repurposed Trans World Airlines training academy formerly occupied by Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. The home-service brands company signed a 12-year lease and, by June, had started relocating 400 local employees from its previous Lenexa headquarters. Southwind said its move would nearly double its office footprint.

Burns & McDonnell subleased about 100,000 square feet of office space at 901 W. Cardonelet Drive in south Kansas City in the first quarter. The engineering, architecture and construction firm said employee-owners would move into the space, about two miles south of its world headquarters, later in the year. Burns & McDonnell’s sublease is for the third and fourth floors of the four-story building, built in 2013 as headquarters for Freightquote.

Freightquote in May signed a lease renewal for about 100,000 square feet on the first and second floors of the 901 W. Carondelet Drive building. The freight logistics provider was acquired in 2015 by Minnesota-based C.H. Robinson. Its Kansas City regional offices sold in 2022 to ElmTree Funds, of Clayton.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP signed a lease renewal for 95,500 square feet at One Kansas City Place, 1200 Main St., in the third quarter.

Propio Language Services in July announced it would lease 81,482 square feet within a pair of office buildings at 4900-4950 College Blvd. in Overland Park. The fast-growing language services provider said it was outgrowing its space at 10801 Mastin St. and planned to relocate in the fourth quarter.

RBC Medical Innovations signed a new lease for 58,827 square feet at 17100-17150 W. 118th Terrace in Olathe’s 119th Street Tech Park in the third quarter.

Conexon in August announced it would lease 48,827 square feet for a new headquarters in the 2323 Grand building near Crown Center. The fast-growing fiber broadband solutions company will move from offices in the Crossroads Arts District’s Firestone Building to 2323 Grand’s full fourth floor and part of its third, in the largest among several office transactions totaling 110,414 square feet at 2323 Grand as of its announcement.

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