Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly celebrated Lockton’s new headquarters Thursday as a “monumental” public/private partnership that keeps a major company within the Kansas City region.
“By 2030, this open field will be transformed into a modern, cutting edge business environment,” she said, as officials prepared to pose behind shovels full of ceremonial dirt at the Hallbrook North mixed-use development.
Lockton will hire 250 more staff and invest $300 million in the site over the next five years,” she said. “This project is what progress looks like in Kansas. When we invest in companies and facilities like this new headquarters, we send a signal across the nation. A signal that Kansas is a place of innovation, modernization and excellence.”
Defining Leawood’s skyline
The groundbreaking marks the beginning of building on the Lockton headquarters tower, the alpha building in an 11-building development that will be Leawood’s largest office and mixed-use development to date, and also one of the largest build-to-suit office developments in the Midwest, according to developer VanTrust Real Estate.
At 176 feet, the 12-story tower will also be the tallest in Leawood since city officials have agreed to let it exceed the 90-foot limit for typical developments. Exceptions are allowed if the building is iconic or if the slope of the land mitigates the height.
Lockton, which bills itself as the world’s largest independent and privately held insurance brokerage, announced in December 2025 that it would move its headquarters from its current home on the Country Club Plaza, bringing with it 1,500 employees.
Speakers at the groundbreaking praised the development as a special work environment from a homegrown company. Lockton chair and CEO Ron Lockton said the company has changed locations in the metro area over the years. “Each step was about supporting long-term growth and maintaining our presence here in the community,” he said.
“To keep pace we need a headquarters that will support our growth well into the future,” he continued. “This location gives us flexibility, room to grow and helps us attract, retain and develop great people.”
Leawood Mayor Marc Elkins noted the company had local roots. “For us, what was critical was to have hometown companies and hometown people partnering with the city of Leawood.”
“This piece of ground is absolutely special, when it comes to commerce, and when it comes to Kansas and Missouri,” Elkins said.
The start of a $765.7 million project
Speaking to reporters later, Gov. Kelly said the efforts to get Lockton to move from its current home in Missouri did not violate the “border wars” truce between the two states – an agreement to deter the use of financial incentives to poach companies across the state line.
“This does not violate the agreement we had with Missouri,” she said, adding later that the agreement “was not meant to stifle businesses’ ability to go the way they want to go.”
The shovels turned Thursday are the beginning of what is planned to be a $765.7 million project on the 34 acres at north of College Boulevard and west of State Line Road. Besides the 444,000-square-foot office project, this first phase will include a small building for corporate retreats. The move-in is tentatively scheduled for 2030.
Other future components of the development include a hotel with event space, two apartment buildings with 400 units combined, other office and commercial space and a child care center.
The city council agreed to a $152 million incentive package for a portion of developer’s expenses. That includes up to $108.7 million in a tax increment financing district, up to $9.9 million from a 1.5 percent special sales tax inside the development district, $18.8 million from hotel guest tax, and $14.6 million exempting certain construction expenses from sales tax.
At the time, some city council members said they could approve incentives because other developments had grown up around the land for years while no offers were forthcoming for what would be the Hallbrook North land.
