hunt midwest real estate development, inc.

overview

Hunt Midwest is a Kansas City-based, privately held real estate development company owned by the Lamar Hunt family. Founded by Lamar Hunt Sr. more than 60 years ago, the company has developed over $3 billion in commercial, industrial, residential, and mission-critical projects across multiple geographic markets. Hunt Midwest’s first roots were in industrial and commercial real estate in and around SubTropolis, a former lateral limestone mine the company converted into the world’s largest underground business complex. The company has since expanded into residential development (since 1993), data centers, logistics parks, and multi-state industrial development. The company is part of the broader Lamar Hunt Family holdings, which also include ownership of the Kansas City Chiefs, FC Dallas, and interests in energy, sports, and private equity.

business model

Privately-held real estate developer and operator focusing on large-scale industrial parks, data center campuses, mixed-use developments, and residential communities. Revenue model includes land sales, build-to-suit development, property leasing, and long-term real estate asset ownership and management. The company leverages the Hunt family’s extensive land bank, financial resources, and strategic partnerships with utilities, government entities, and technology companies to develop mission-critical infrastructure projects.

data center profile

global footprint

us portfolio (from database)

projects by state

specialization

primary focus: hyperscale, wholesale

key differentiators:

• World’s largest underground business complex (SubTropolis) offering unique geological advantages

• Strategic land bank adjacent to major infrastructure (KCI Airport, I-29/I-435)

• Single-ownership control of massive mega sites (3,300+ acres at KCI-29)

• Deep utility partnerships with Evergy for power delivery

• Hunt family financial backing enabling patient capital approach

financial highlights

strategy

corporate strategy

Hunt Midwest’s corporate strategy centers on leveraging the Hunt family’s extensive land holdings and patient capital to develop large-scale, infrastructure-intensive projects requiring long-term vision. The company positions itself as a master developer capable of assembling and preparing mega sites (1,000+ acres) with full infrastructure readiness for Fortune 500 tenants. Hunt Midwest focuses on strategic locations with transportation advantages (proximity to airports, interstates, rail) and utility infrastructure capacity. The company has evolved from its SubTropolis underground complex roots to become a key enabler of Kansas City’s emergence as a major data center hub, capitalizing on the region’s central U.S. location, low-cost reliable power, and business-friendly incentive environment.

growth strategy

Hunt Midwest’s growth strategy involves three main pillars: (1) Geographic expansion beyond Kansas City into high-growth Southeast markets (South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Georgia) with nearly 10 million square feet of industrial space under development, (2) Data center specialization through strategic partnerships with hyperscalers and mission-critical operators, developing purpose-built campuses with dedicated power infrastructure, and (3) Multi-asset class diversification across industrial logistics, data centers, residential communities, senior living, and self-storage. The company maintains a strategic land bank of over 3,000 acres of development-ready land and pursues build-to-suit opportunities for investment-grade tenants. Hunt Midwest’s approach emphasizes master-planned communities with complete infrastructure (power, water, sewer, fiber) to accelerate time-to-market for clients.

power strategy

Hunt Midwest’s power strategy relies on deep partnerships with regional utility Evergy to deliver robust electrical infrastructure to mega site developments. The company works proactively to ensure substations, transmission lines, and generation capacity are planned and constructed ahead of tenant demand. For data center projects, Hunt Midwest collaborates with Evergy to provide ‘stair-step’ energy ramp proposals that scale power delivery over time as facilities come online. The company’s sites feature multiple diverse substations and high-voltage (161 kV+) transmission lines for redundancy and capacity.

renewable commitment: Hunt Midwest promotes renewable energy options to data center clients through utility partnerships. The company’s Project Kestrel commits to minimum 50% carbon-free energy, and the Google data center at Hunt Midwest Business Center will be powered by 400 MW of carbon-free solar energy from the Beavertail Solar farm. Hunt Midwest markets access to clean, renewable energy through Evergy as a competitive advantage for sustainability-focused hyperscale tenants.

major commitments

partnerships

power providers

technology partners

LightEdge Solutions (Data Center Operator) : Strategic alliance announced September 2013 for SubTropolis Technology Center. LightEdge invested $58 million to become anchor tenant in 60,000 sq ft underground data center opened April 2014. Partnership established Hunt Midwest’s credentials in mission-critical data center development.

financial partnerships

leadership

Ora Reynolds

President & Chief Executive Officer

Joined Hunt Midwest in 1991 as manager of new business development. Promoted to President in 2003 and CEO circa 2012. Over 30+ year tenure, led Hunt Midwest’s exponential growth including SubTropolis expansion to 8.1 million sq ft, assemblage of 3,300-acre KCI-29 mega site, and geographic expansion into Southeast U.S. markets with 10 million sq ft of industrial space planned. Under her leadership, Hunt Midwest achieved over $3 billion in developed projects.

Reynolds is credited with transforming Hunt Midwest from a regional underground storage company into a national real estate developer and key player in Kansas City’s emergence as a data center hub. She serves as co-chair of Kansas City Area Development Council board of directors, on Commerce Bank advisory board, and KU Advancement Board.

Bret Richardson

Asset Management and Acquisitions

Over 11 years of experience in real estate, involved in over $100 million of construction and acquisition/disposition activity at Hunt Midwest. Focuses on asset management, property revenue optimization, and supporting new development projects.

Key role in Hunt Midwest’s expansion and asset optimization during period of rapid growth in data center and industrial development.

Tony Borchers

Leadership team member

Listed in Hunt Midwest leadership announcements related to company growth and industrial development projects.

Part of leadership team during Hunt Midwest’s expansion into Southeast markets.

competitive position

Hunt Midwest occupies a unique market position as a privately-held, family-owned master developer specializing in mega site industrial parks and data center campuses in the Kansas City region. The company is the dominant player in Kansas City Northland development and has established itself as the go-to partner for hyperscale data center projects in the region. Hunt Midwest’s competitive position is strengthened by: (1) Control of largest contiguous industrial land bank in Missouri (3,300+ acres at KCI-29), (2) Ownership of world’s largest underground business complex providing differentiated data center offering, (3) Deep relationships with local utilities, government, and economic development entities, (4) Hunt family financial backing enabling patient capital and long-term development approach, and (5) Track record attracting Fortune 500 and hyperscale technology tenants.

strengths

• Extensive strategic land bank in high-growth Kansas City Northland adjacent to KCI Airport

• Hunt family financial backing ($24.8 billion net worth) enabling patient capital approach

• Unique SubTropolis underground complex offering geological advantages for data centers

• Proven ability to attract hyperscale tenants (Google, Meta, Shenandoah Computing)

• Deep partnerships with Evergy utility for power infrastructure delivery

opportunities

• Kansas City emergence as major data center hub driven by AI/cloud computing demand

• Massive pipeline with $100B+ Project Kestrel development over 20 years

• Expand SubTropolis Technology Center with additional mission-critical facilities

• Attract additional hyperscale tenants to KCI-29 mega site (Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle)

• Replicate Kansas City data center success model in Southeast expansion markets

threats

• Regional power grid constraints limiting data center growth without new generation capacity

• Competing data center mega projects in Kansas City region (Red Wolf DCD $12.6B, De Soto$3.1B) straining infrastructure

• Community opposition to data center tax incentives and limited job creation

• Rising interest rates increasing financing costs for tenant build-outs

• Hyperscaler consolidation or pullback on data center capex spending

projects

sources

• Hunt Midwest: Kansas City Real Estate Development Company

• Hunt Midwest (2025)

• About Hunt Midwest: Commercial Real Estate Developers in KC

• Hunt Midwest (2025)

• Hunt Midwest Ownership/Leadership - Real Estate Development

• Hunt Midwest (2025)

• Ora Reynolds - President and Chief Executive Officer

• Hunt Midwest (2025)

• KCI 29 Logistics Park - 3,300-Acre Megasite

• Hunt Midwest (2025)

• Hunt Midwest Business Center - Industrial Land for Sale or Lease

• Hunt Midwest (2025)

• What is SubTropolis

• Hunt Midwest (2025)

• Port KC approves $100B in funding for another data center

• Axios Kansas City (2025-08-28)

• $100 billion data center coming to Kansas City’s Northland

• Fox4KC (2025-08-26)

• $100 billion data center planned north of Kansas City airport to pave the way for newcomers

• KCTV5 (2025-08-26)