KFSA buys downtown Commerce Bank building

Sept. 13--KFSA of Hutchinson, one of the largest insurance companies in the state, announced Friday that it has purchased the Commerce Bank building on Main Street in downtown Garden City.

Mitch Williams, KFSA president, said growth and opportunity required a larger facility and footprint.

"We look forward to being in Garden City for many years to come and are excited about this purchase and the visibility it will give our agency in Garden City," Williams said.

Two years ago, KFSA purchased the Rutter Cline Agency on Eighth Street in Garden City. Rutter Cline will be moving around the corner into the Commerce Bank building.

Williams said the move should take effect by the middle of November. The larger space will allow the company to expand its services in the near future.

"We're really big into safety compliance and human resources, and right now we're not offering those out of the office we're currently at," Williams said. "They won't start in November, but we will start offering those services, as well."

Williams said the company has grown by a couple of people, and he would expect it to continue to grow over the next couple of years.

"This building is a big thing for us," he said. "Rutter Cline has been around and been successful for a lot of years, and we think a Main Street location's visibility will be a good thing for us. I used to live out there, and I remember that Commerce building being kind of a cornerstone on Main Street. We're excited about the opportunity to get a hold of it."

KFSA is owned by 87 agricultural cooperatives in the state of Kansas and has been in operation since 1947. It has locations in Hutchinson, Dodge City and Garden City. The Garden City location specializes in commercial, agribusiness and trucking insurance with substantial operations in home and auto insurance. Along with offering insurance products, KFSA also provides expertise in the safety and compliance arena.

KFSA indicated it would share the building with Commerce Bank while Commerce is building its new branch headquarters at 1515 Kansas Ave, which was the site of the former Bank of America building.

According to a Telegram news story in May, the former Bank of America building will be torn down and a new 11,300 square-foot Commerce Bank structure will be built. Construction is anticipated to begin in January and could be completed by July 2015.

Rich Harp, president of Commerce Bank'sGarden City branch, was unavailable Friday afternoon for comment about the sale.

The sale price of the building was not released.

However, over the past year the building had been listed as one property with Regan and Company Real Estate for $1.175 million, but was later split into two separate properties. The north side property at 221 N. Main was listed for $390,000, and the south side, at 214 N. Main, was listed at $785,000.

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