[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 3 (Thursday, January 20, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E48]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO BARNEY KARBANK

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 20, 2005

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, the Kansas City 
metropolitan area lost one of its leading entrepreneurs and supporters 
of community development with the death of Barney Karbank. And I lost a 
friend. One of Kansas City's premier industrial developers, he helped 
assemble the ground for the Truman Sports Complex and developed more 
than 100 Kansas City area properties, mostly warehouses and production 
plants that he rented to other companies.
  As a 2000 Kansas City Star profile of Barney Karbank noted: ``For 
five decades, Karbank has survived the booms and busts of real estate 
with a simple strategy: build and hold. Karbank occasionally buys a 
building, rarely sells and never refinances a property once it's paid 
off. He has never lost a parcel to foreclosure, he said, nor has he 
sold one to avoid a creditor's noose. . . . `He's at the top of the 
industrial real estate market heap in Kansas City', said Roger Cohen, a 
former Karbank partner who now heads his own firm.''
  A dedicated participant in the civic life of our community, Barney 
Karbank was always active in local charitable, religious and service 
organizations. But most important to him were the relationships he 
developed throughout the community in his business activities: as the 
Star quoted him in 2000: `` `Instead of lending people dollars, we're 
lending bricks and mortar,' Karbank said. While other developers borrow 
money against properties, Karbank has used his leverage to build 
relationships with tenants. `We're not merchant builders,' Karbank 
said. `If you're going to come to the dance with us, you're going to 
leave the dance with us.' ''
  Mr. Speaker, I join with all of Kansas City in mourning the passing 
of this giant among our community who literally changed its skyline. I 
was privileged to call him my friend and supporter, and our family 
shares the sense of loss that I know his family now feels. I am placing 
into the Record a profile of Barney Karbank carried by the Kansas City 
Star in recognition of his death.

               [From the Kansas City Star, Jan. 18, 2005]

 Barney Karbank Dies at 80--Leading Developer Left His Mark on KC Real 
                                 Estate

                           (By Dan Margolies)

       Barney Karbank, one of Kansas City's premier industrial and 
     commercial developers, died Sunday after a long illness. He 
     was 80.
       Karbank, chairman of B.A. Karbank & Co., developed more 
     than 100 properties in the area, mostly warehouses and 
     production plants he rented to other companies.
       ``It's a real changing of the guard,'' said Olen Monsees, 
     president of B.A. Karbank. ``He was just such a legend in 
     this business. The world will go on, but we'll miss him.''
       The son of a fish-market operator, Karbank walked with a 
     cane all his life following a childhood bout with polio. He 
     started out as an unpaid clerk for James B. Welsh Realty in 
     1946 before joining Charles F. Curry Co. the following year. 
     Deciding that pushing brooms, running errands and selling 
     houses wasn't for him, he began B.A. Karbank & Co. as a real 
     estate brokerage firm in 1950 at the age of 26.
       He constructed his first building, at 2615 Holmes St., for 
     Borg-Warner Corp. after paying a cold call on Borg-Warner. 
     More than five decades later, his company controls more than 
     5 million square feet of industrial and commercial space in 
     the metropolitan area, as well as buildings in other cities.
       Settling for a build-and-hold strategy, Karbank described 
     his business in a 2000 interview with The Star as lending 
     people bricks and mortar instead of money.
       Karbank rarely sold the projects he developed, focusing 
     instead on ownership. Among his major projects in Kansas City 
     and elsewhere were buildings for dozens of companies, 
     including General Electric Co., Sunkist Growers Inc., the 
     U.S. Postal Service, Southwestern Bell, Chevron Chemical Co., 
     Westinghouse Electric Co., Whirlpool Corp. and General Motors 
     Corp.
       ``He took great pride in never defaulting on a loan, never 
     giving property back to a lender, never putting a project in 
     bankruptcy, never asking for a loan workout and never 
     refinancing a property,'' said his son, Steven Karbank, 
     president of Karbank Development Co., the operation's 
     development arm.
       Barney Karbank left his mark on almost every major 
     industrial park in the area. He also assembled a major 
     portion of the land for the Truman Sports Complex and 
     undertook land assemblages for other clients, including sites 
     for the area's first cellular phone system.
       A Kansas City native, he attended Paseo High School and 
     Kansas City Junior College. Outspoken in his views, he 
     resigned in 1969 from the City Plan Commission after 
     criticizing it for doing ``practically no planning as such.'' 
     For years, he inveighed against Missouri's redevelopment 
     laws, which he said gave private developers too much power to 
     subvert public purposes.
       ``The survival of the city is in direct proportion to its 
     ability to rebuild itself,'' he told The Star in a 1969 
     interview. ``Everyone is for new development and new 
     buildings and growth. But in what way should it come?''
       Barney Karbank served on the boards of numerous business 
     and professional organizations, including First Federal Bank, 
     Mercantile Bank and La Petite Academy Inc. He was treasurer 
     for the Committee for County Progress in the 1960s and a 
     member of both the City Plan Commission and the Jackson 
     County Board of Zoning Adjustment.
       He was a director of many civic and charitable 
     organizations, including the Jewish Federation of Greater 
     Kansas City, the Jewish Community Foundation, Congregation 
     Beth Shalom and Menorah Medical Center.
       Barney Karbank is survived by his wife of 55 years, Rose 
     Karbank; their four children, Marcia Karbank, Diane Davidner, 
     Neil Karbank and Steven Karbank, and their spouses; his 
     brother Joe Karbank; 15 grandchildren; and four great-
     grandchildren.

                          ____________________