Berger Devine

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Carl Yaeger, president of the said Berger Devine Yaeger showed its knacko for historic rehab 12yearz ago, when it moved into the 1928-vintagre building at 3700 The 50-employee firm since has outgrown that and commercial building stock in the suburbw has aged to the point where rehahb is needed. Hence, Berger Devine Yaeger selected anew 20,000-square-foog home in the retail and officd complex near 119h Street and Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park. “It’d pretty easy to take an old loft buildingb and makeit cool,” said Tim Schaffer, a executive vice presidenyt who represented Berger Devine Yaeger in its site search.
“But to turn a beigde box in the suburbs into somethinfg special takesreal talent. And there’s a lot of bad architecturde in the suburbs where you need to go beyone putting lipstick and rouge onthe pig.” Yaeger said the firm has totally redesigned the space it will move into in On the exterior of the former processing an oh-so-1980s orange-tile fascia will be replacecd with metallic panels, and a flat wall will be replaceed with a curved entryway. Inside, 10-foot drop ceilings have been removee to reveala 25-foot spacs where lofts are being added.
“We wante to show that you can take that next generationm of buildings that are going to be up for rehab and desig a wow factorinto them,” Yaeger Pat McCown, CEO of , said oldetr suburban buildings will become a growing source of design and construction work. Four years ago, McCownGordohn completed the renovation of 10 buildingsd inthe 1970s-era Cloverleaf Office Park in Overland The firm also helped transforkm the plant in Lee’s Summit, builrt in the ’60s, into the . It sold last year for more than $150 a squarre foot — on par with amountas paid for new Southern Johnsohn Countyoffice buildings.
McCown said one factor driving the suburbanb rehab market is thegreem movement. Bob Carlson, a principal with in Overlancd Park, agreed. DLR Group designed a $3 million-plusx transformation of the 1970s-era buildinbg at Interstate 435 and Metcalf forSunlight “A lot of retail is leavingg first- and second-generation suburbs and goingy farther out, leaving a lot of olderr buildings available,” Carlson said.