VanTrust Real Estate employees are celebrating a big win. NAIOP, the commercial real estate development association, selected the company as the recipient of its 2023 Developer of the Year award.
Based in Kansas City, Missouri, VanTrust has developed more than $6 billion of properties, and its project starts in 2022 alone surpassing $1.3 billion, NAIOP said. VanTrust, the real estate development arm of developer Larry Van Tuyl’s family office, also has offices in Dallas; Phoenix; Columbus, Ohio; and Jacksonville, Florida. It has worked with office, industrial, multifamily, mixed-used, science-and-technology and hospitality projects nationwide.
“This award is a testament to the commitment of our employees, who consistently strive to exceed expectations through a strong set of guiding values and a commitment to the communities we serve,” President Dave Harrison, pictured, said in a statement.
Van Tuyl’s real estate investment path began with buying farmland, according to the company’ website. Van Tuyl also bought distressed properties during the savings and loan debacle in the 1980s. And in 2015, he sold his Van Tuyl Group, at the time the largest privately held auto dealership group in the U.S., to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.
VanTrust has served “as responsible stewards of the communities in which it operates,” NAIOP said in announcing the award. The association added that VanTrust’s charitable contributions have helped improve communities.