SHAFER, KLINE & WARREN, INC. MOVES CORPORATE OFFICE TO LENEXA

Overland Park, KS – Shafer, Kline & Warren, Inc. (SKW) is preparing to write another chapter in company history.  While celebrating their 57th year in business, the surveying, planning and engineering firm is preparing to relocate their corporate office to the Southlake Technology Park in Lenexa.  Having outgrown their building in Overland Park, SKW announced plans in January to purchase the office building formerly occupied by Quintiles at 11250 Corporate Avenue.
  
The move is a reflection of the firm’s recent growth, as well as their commitment to the Johnson County community.  In each of the past three years SKW has seen substantial increases in revenue, and expects 2007 to again be a record year.  That growth has left SKW with the challenge of accommodating additional staff and equipment.

Vice President Jerry Johnson, P.E., says, “Each of our three local offices is at or near capacity.  We really wanted to find a place that would allow us to accommodate continued growth and allow us to serve our local clients who have helped us get to where we are today.”

The move will allow SKW to relocate 90 employees to Southlake, with the additional capacity to hold up to 140 staff.
When selecting the new office location, President Ron Petering, P.E., PTOE, says the firm wanted to give employees a working environment that offered more than just a new building. 

“We chose this location because it offered our employees the best balance between convenient highway access and providing a setting with indoor and outdoor amenities.” The Southlake site accomplished these goals from its location near the intersecting highways of I-435, K-10 and I-35, and offering employees more than four miles of walking trails, community lakes and many exercise stations.  Inside the building, SKW included within their remodeling plans a generous sized employee lounge complete with couches, flat screen TVs and other recreational options.

We have a great, hardworking staff,” Petering says.  “The technical demands of our services require sustained concentration and the meeting of multiple project deadlines can, at times, make for a hectic work environment.  We wanted to provide our employees with opportunities to recharge and rejuvenate.”

The firm expects to be fully operational in the new building by late July.  SKW currently has 250 employees in eight offices located in Kansas City, North Kansas City, Columbia, Macon and Chillicothe, MO; Tulsa, OK; and Iola and soon Lenexa, KS.