Last updated on May 21st, 2024 at 07:54 am
As a metropolitan area that sits on Missouri’s western border, border and is divided by the Kansas/Missouri border, Kansas City (KCMO) is home to the region’s high-end and modern commercial and multi-residential real estate. The city is currently undergoing a major redevelopment that amounts to over $6 billion dollars of projects and urban improvements—a long-term plan that began at the turn of the century. One of the biggest industries that plays the most significant role in the city’s revitalization is the construction sector, supported by its impressive selections of professionals that continue to do their part in helping shape the city’s evolving landscapes, especially in modernizing the commercial and retail markets.
This article lists the best retail contractors in Kansas City. The firms featured here are Missouri and Kansas-based contractors that have completed multiple construction, renovation, remodeling, and addition projects in Kansas City’s metropolitan area. Our editorial team considered the firm’s awards, publication features, industry affiliations, and years of experience in the industry. We also looked at the background of the firm’s principals, every firm’s number of years in the construction industry, and their memberships with the industry’s most respected organizations. Most importantly, these firms qualified for this list based on the reviews and testimonials that they received from their clients as well as the records that highlight their quality of services, business ethics, and contribution to the industry’s commercial landscape.
ARC General Contracting
6205 Goddard St., Shawnee, KS 66203
As a family-owned, local construction company, ARC General Contracting understands the region’s need for building professionals that have the ability to deliver enduring, quality, and high-performing structures but also focus on building practices that put the clients first. Since its inception in 2000, the firm has established a solid client base, completing its portfolio of projects that comes from referrals and repeat clients alike.
Much of the firm’s work for the hospitality, commercial, healthcare, and retail sectors can be found across Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. Aside from having seasoned subcontractors and the most sought-after architectural firms on its side, the company relies on its background in site analysis, design concept development, cost estimating, permit procurement, and pad-site development to understand the scale, complexity, and fitting delivery method for each build.
As a contractor of commercial and retail facilities, it has worked with some of Missouri’s most renowned local establishments. Richline Motorsports, a Missouri-based company that sells wheels, tires, and other parts and accessories for customizing automobiles, commissioned the firm to build one of its two locations in the state. Because of the early challenges in project cost, the firm and other subcontractors worked together with the project’s architect to come up with an innovative solution. Through a cost-effective and high-performing value engineering process, the project was finally ready to break ground. All these work and planning successfully accommodated the project’s financial requirements, timeframe, and the quality of development that the client aimed for.
Centric
520 W Pennway St. Suite #100, Kansas City, MO 64108
For over ten years, Centric has been helping shape Kansas City’s residential and commercial landscape through pioneering structures that are designed and constructed through innovative building practices and providing answers to the most complex problems. Its rich portfolio features work that has redefined the region’s healthcare, hospitality, industrial, institutional, multifamily, and retail environments.
Under the leadership of the firm’s principals, Richard Wetzel and Steve Swanson, the firm’s services are divided into three categories: Centric Projects for large builds that benefit communities, Centric Homes for its residential renovation, addition, and construction, and Centric Special Ops that focuses on small-scale, special builds, such as playgrounds, patios, memorials, and zoos.
As a builder for the retail sector, the firm has completed multiple commercial complexes, including Hawthorne Plaza and Corinth Square. It has also spearheaded the construction of some of the region’s firsts: the first coworking space in the city and the first to break ground on the streetcar line. Clients such as Aristocrat Motors, Hoopla, and Underdog Wine have also relied on the firm’s expertise to produce efficient, high-performing, and enduring structures.
Complete Construction Service
5919 Barton Dr. Shawnee, KS 66203
Since Complete Construction’s inception in 2011, it has actively partnered with local entrepreneurs and industry leaders. Through its general contracting, design/build, construction management, and preconstruction services, the firm builds facilities that not only provide safe and efficient spaces for businesses but also optimize the performance of its users, enhance customers’ experience and satisfaction, drive economic growth, and promote the well-being of the communities that they serve.
Although the firm is headquartered in the state of Kansas, it expands its services to nearby regions, including several cities in Missouri. For years, the firm has catered to Kansas City’s needs for modern, well-built spaces, especially for its commercial and retail market. Mike’s Wine & Spirit, a homegrown wine and liquor establishment founded in Kansas City almost 20 years ago, is one of the firm’s clients in retail construction. Built on Westport Road, the store is just one of its three locations.
Clint Spoor heads the firm’s everyday operations. Spoor is a second-generation builder whose earliest experience in construction dates back to his childhood. Before he founded his own company, he spent 15 years honing his skills under the guidance of two of the city’s most established general contracting companies. Over the years, Spoor has collected his portfolio of medical facilities, specialty restaurants, warehouses, and retail centers.
Excel Constructors
8041 W 47th St., Overland Park, KS 66203
Excel Constructors takes on different levels and scales of projects from a diverse sector, including commercial, industrial, residential, religious, government, hospitality, healthcare, and education. Some of these works have been commended for their construction excellence, community impact, as well as for their safety records and their sustainability track records. Since its founding in 1991, Excel has earned multiple Associated Builders and Contractors’s (ABC) President in Construction awards, Excellence in Construction awards, as well as Kansas City Business Journal’s Capstone Awards and Green Awards.
The company might be based in the state of Kansas, but it has helped businesses and developers from neighboring states to construct innovative spaces that answer the demand of modern users. In the Kansas City Metro Area, for instance, it has worked for the salon and spa superstore, Beauty Brands, to complete an 8,000-square-foot retail store.
Delivered in four months in 2011, the project was part of the firm and the brand’s long-term partnership to complete four locations across the metropolis. The project’s designer and architect, Rees Masilionis Turley Architecture, worked with the construction firm to complete a modern, retail store with aesthetic structural details that adhere to the client’s corporate standards. The building’s façade features an exterior skin made of cast iron, porcelain tile, and boasts a cladding of exterior insulation finishing system (EIFS). Full glass storefront and glass wall framing connect the indoors with its surrounding landscape, giving the store an expansive feel that is also visually appealing.
Harmon Construction, Inc.
18989 W 158th St. Olathe, KS 66062
Featured multiple times by INGRAM’s magazine as one of the fastest-growing and community-driven commercial builders in the region, Harmon Construction offers an extensive list of construction management services, general contracting abilities, and design-build solutions. Founded by president and CEO Timothy Harmon three decades ago, the firm’s combination of traditional and innovative approaches to construction makes it the preferred professional for constructing and modernizing rural and urban spaces.
Despite being a mid-sized company, the firm caters to Missouri and Kansas’s diverse range of industries, including commercial, senior living, industrial, restaurant, religious, medical, healthcare, and educational sectors. Following a business practice that revolves around the idea of “building relationships before buildings,” the firm has established lifelong partnerships with some of the biggest retail chains in the US.
As a builder of retail spaces, the firm has completed multiple projects in Kansas City’s growing metropolitan area for a long list of loyal clients. Cable Dahmer Dealership, an independent automobile retailer of brand new and used Chevrolet, for instance, tasked the company with the construction of its several locations across the city and nearby areas. The firm has partnered with business owners to complete spaces and retail complexes for the banking, food, and pharmaceutical industries. One of its biggest projects was completed for the country’s second-largest pharmacy store chain, Walgreens: the multi-site project included several locations in Kansas and Missouri.
Luke Draily Construction Company
75 NW Business Park Ln., Riverside, MO 64150
Since Bob Becker founded Luke Draily Construction Company in 1997, the firm has focused on delivering structures through a transparent, innovative, and adaptive approach to every build. Named by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of its Hot 100 Fastest-Growing Entrepreneurial Businesses in America, and included by INGRAM magazine in its fastest-growing construction companies in the Kansas City area listing, the firm dominates the region’s commercial construction scene.
One of the firm’s biggest projects in Kansas City was for the multinational supermarket chain, Whole Foods. The massive 45,000-square-foot build-out was a collaboration with Danielle Weaver, a senior architect from Idaho firm, CSHQA. The partnership concluded the project in the Spring of 2018 and produced a much needed commercial retail center to complete the existing mixed-use facility. The grocery store will cater to tenants and residents that occupy the upper luxury multifamily spaces, six-level parking, and other healthcare facilities.
Wholefoods has also commissioned the firm to head many of its market build-outs for several of its locations, including stores in Indiana, Iowa, Colorado, Minnesota, and other cities in Missouri. Aside from Whole Foods, brands from the healthcare sector such as Walgreens Pharmacy have also entrusted the company to complete four of its locations across the state. Hardware retailer Sutherlands also tasked the firm to head the construction of its 130,000-square-foot Harrisonville location. The firm has also built numerous locations for companies like Orange Theory Fitness, Mattress Firm, Jimmy Johns and Fresh Karma Dispensaries.
McCownGordon Construction
850 Main St., Kansas City, MO 64105
Known for its client-focused approach to building, McCownGordon Construction is commended for its contributions in shaping the region’s commercial landscapes. Since its inception over 20 years ago, the firm has championed a highly collaborative practice that focuses on people and on goals that help enhance communities and organizations through enduring and high-performing buildings. Kansas City Business Journal, Engineering News-Record, and Fortune magazine have documented the firm’s milestones as it has become one of the emerging forces that continues to dominate the industry. To date, the firm has managed and led 1,149 projects for a diverse range of sectors.
For the commercial and retail industry, the company has worked with a number of reputable institutions. Meierotto’s headquarters and retail store project, for instance, is one of the firm’s biggest projects for the high-end retail sector. True to its elegant brand—the store offers diamonds, engagement rings, designer jewelry, and luxury timepieces—the building exudes luxury and sophistication. From its grand entry vestibule, a massive staircase, high ceilings, and exterior balcony that offers a 180-degree view of the Kansas City skyline, the structure features a bold and daring architecture that emphasizes its enduring presence since its founding in 1979.
The project was a collaboration with Davidson Architecture and Engineering. Commissioned by MJT Development Co., the firm headed the safety planning, preconstruction, and collaborative delivery services. The construction involved the building and installation of high-end interior details, retail showrooms, conference rooms, kitchen, office spaces, and parking spaces. The building’s façade features white cement precast concrete panels embedded with gray Indiana limestone.
MW Builders
13725 W 109th St., Lenexa, KS 66215
MW Builders is a multi-awarded, employee-owned company that has been included in some of the industry’s most respected rankings. Engineering News-Record, for instance, recently included the firm among its Top Contractors in the Midwest and Top Contractors in Kansas, a recognition that the firm has secured four years in a row. In neighboring Missouri, the Kansas City Business Journal recognized the firm with its Capstone Awards Office Category for the Tortoise Office Headquarter project.
Led by president Todd Winnerman, its preconstruction, design/build, general construction, and construction management services have delivered an overwhelming list of projects for nine market sectors, including works for the retail industry. For more than two decades, the company has partnered with Walmart to complete several of its stores. To date, the firm has constructed 44 locations for the multinational retail corporation, which are found across 15 states. The size of these projects ranges from 35,000-square-feet to as large as 225,000-square-feet. Over its years of partnership, the company has refined and strengthened its processes to cater to the brand’s need for high-performing, sustainable, and environmentally-conscious construction practices.
For all its Walmart projects and even its other projects for other markets, the firm implements a Construction Waste Recycling Program, especially on locations where local municipalities share the same practices. Additionally, every personnel on-site are Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) Certified, an accreditation that all of the firm’s managers and superintendents hold. Lastly, is the implementation of the Immigration Control and Site-Access System, an essential monitoring program to secure and control sites.
SRKO Commercial Builders
24 NW Chipman Rd., Lee’s Summit, MO 64063
Specializing in commercial tenant improvement projects, particularly for spaces that cater to the corporate office, healthcare, and retail sector, SRKO Commercial Builders has established a reputation for quality, on-time, on-budget delivery. It’s not surprising that the firm is an accredited Better Business Bureau (BBB) organization, a certification that commends the business’s ethical practices and stellar customer service. Its chairman and founder, Dean Kirby, completed his first commercial property in 1980 and since then, Mr. Kirby has developed over five decades’ worth of expertise in the market. As a leading general contractor and construction management firm, it stays with the project from start to finish, from putting up the drywall, to installing its final fixtures.
One of the retail construction projects that it completed in Kansas City is the Eileen Fisher retail store project. The work involves the construction of 2,390-square-feet of commercial space at the city’s exclusive Country Club Plaza. Conceptualized by Tricarico Architecture and Design and developed by Highwoods Properties, the structure mirrors the simplicity and timeless aesthetics that the clothing brand is known for.
Some of the most charming features of this building can be found in its interiors: walls in an elegant brick tapestry, accent track lighting that envelops the place in warm light. The store’s engineered flooring against a neutral-toned ceiling completes its theme of gentle elegance. Aside from its display area, the project included a multi-use fitting area as well as a custom reception area.
