Editor’s Briefing: Firm’s designs on growth reshape its operations and the KC landscape

“Big plans” was the headline of the 1998 story written by my late, great colleague Jim Davis about Hoefer Wysocki Architects.

The firm, then two years old, had just 15 employees but — well, the headline says it all.

“Growth is important to us,” co-founder Mitch Hoefer said. “We see so many incredible opportunities. We could do $50 million projects.”

<p”>A few months shy of its 25th anniversary, Hoefer’s firm has a long list of big projects in its portfolio. The newly rebranded Hoefer Welker is the area’s fourth-largest architecture firm, based on 42 local architects, and has 120 area employees, with another 40 in its Dallas office.

This past week’s news makes clear that Hoefer and his firm still have big plans.

The firm’s new name is significant because new name partner Rob Welker isn’t an architect. His skill, or “superpower” as Hoefer told the Kansas City Business Journal‘s Thomas Friestad, is in building teams. Hoefer said Welker has strengthened the firm both by developing its people and getting those people pulling in the same direction.