Leading Topeka Forward
By VALERIE WILLIAMS | Photos by MEL TAYLOR
Cody Foster and David Callanan started their entrepreneurial journey around a kitchen table in 2005. With only $135,000 and a mission to redefine the role of an independent marketing organization for financial advisors across the nation, they’ve proven themselves as game changers in the industry. Now, with the recent purchase of West Ridge Mall, they’re focusing on making their local community a more desirable place to live, work and play.
NO STRANGERS TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP
While Foster and Callanan might be closing in on 20 years of consulting nearly 700 of the nation’s top financial advisors, they’re no stranger to entrepreneurship outside their success with Advisors Excel.
In 2015, Foster founded AIM Strategies, a private equity firm that’s developed several successful downtown businesses like the Cyrus Hotel, The Pennant, Iron Rail and the anticipated new restaurant that will occupy the corner of 8th and Kansas Avenue. Additionally, Foster and AIM Strategies own several properties in the downtown area and offer consulting services to aspiring entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry.
TAKING ON WEST RIDGE MALL
Foster and Callanan first entertained the idea of purchasing commercial space at West Ridge Mall in 2019. At the time, Burlington Coat Factory had just vacated their space and the co-owners deemed it a viable option for the future headquarters of Advisors Excel. However, concerns over the stability of the mall ultimately shifted their focus to Gage Shopping Center, which now hosts their second location and approximately 150 employees. But when the opportunity presented itself again, they saw potential beyond their previous department store pursuit.
“Our original goal with Gage was to turn it into a nice retail strip,” said Foster. “We thought it could be a cool project. But we’ve never been great at projecting our growth, and a little over a year ago we realized that at the rate we were growing, we had to convert that into more office space.”
However, when Foster and Callanan made the initial decision to turn the former strip mall into the second Advisors Excel location, they were already realizing they could potentially be out of space again within the next three to five years.
“If you look at our history, about every five years we’ve taken on a major real estate development project for office space,” said Foster. “We considered building something. We looked downtown, trying to think through some of the office spaces available, and there just wasn’t a great solution for us. I just kept coming back to the idea of the mall and thought, for the price and the value we can get it at, is going to be such a smart opportunity compared to what it would cost to build something.”
From there, bigger picture ideas quickly took over. What started as a strategy to find a long-term solution for their rapidly growing team quickly morphed into conversations about a larger scale project and the potential it could offer Topeka and the rest of the mall, if it was done right. But to do it right, they would need to take a strategic approach to ensure they had the right mix of tenants to draw people in. And that’s been their focus to-date.
“We’re trying to be thoughtful about who we bring in here that will bring people back,” said Foster. “For example, I don’t think Nordstroms would work here. But Nordstroms Rack would crush it. So we’ll be aggressive with trying to get those types of businesses in here.”
Foster and Callanan plan to use AIM Strategies to manage and oversee the project. They’ve also started conversations with master planning firms who specialize in retail spaces to help envision what success looks like. Initial ideas have included a services wing (think salon and spa services, a gym, etc.), new restaurant concepts, and potentially residential options down the road.
SPREADING THE LOVE
Downtown Topeka and the NOTO Arts & Entertainment District have seen a resurgence in the past several years as a result of public and private investments, many of which can be attributed to Foster. Now, as he turns some of his focus toward the opposite side of town, he believes there’s plenty of opportunity and support within the community to share the love.
“I view the Wanamaker corridor and downtown as pretty different,” he said. “I would say I view Wanamaker much more as a retail destination, and I view downtown as more of a dining and entertainment district long term. Overall, I think Topeka has the potential to be a destination for a larger demographic region and, if both are executed successfully, it can only mean good things for the community overall.”
A PASSION FOR THE GROWTH OF TOPEKA
Originally from small, rural towns in Kansas, Foster and Callanan moved to Topeka to attend college at Washburn University. They’re both passionate advocates for Topeka and believe the university and business community offer ample opportunity for a brighter future ahead.
“I’ll never understand why people wouldn’t want the place they live to be as great as it can possibly be,” Foster said. “I remember friends, a little bit older than me, always talking about their kids not seeing opportunity in Topeka. Having a freshman in college and a sophomore in high school now, I didn’t want them to not view Topeka as an option.”
Foster believes the community already has an impressive business environment, but it’s the entertainment and dining options that have historically been lacking.
“You always hear there’s nothing to do here,” he said. “Washburn University’s biggest untapped potential is the opportunity for graduates to find a job after they graduate. You won’t find that with any other school in the MIAA. So if we could just complement the business community with things like dining and entertainment, it will create a pretty bright future for Topeka. If you look at some of the progress we’ve seen over the past five to seven years, you see it’s already starting to manifest itself. We’re making progress, and it’s fun to see.”
LONG TERM VISION FOR TOPEKA
Looking beyond the excitement and energy surrounding the future of West Ridge Mall, Foster envisions tremendous growth across all areas of Topeka.
“I think downtown still has a long way to go,” said Foster. “I think the next big phase that will support business there will be great residential. I also see this vision of more restaurants, more nightlife and places like TPAC and Jayhawk Theatre being fully renovated and having some great shows there.”
As a newly appointed member of the Riverfront Advisory Board, he also believes that area will be picking up steam in the near future, helping tie downtown and the NOTO Arts & Entertainment District closer together.
“I think what you’ll continue to see is compounding improvement,” said Foster. “We’re on a constant path of steady improvement. But I think the biggest opportunity we have is to create a start-up community, specifically in animal and ag health, through Plug and Play initiatives.”
ADVICE FOR SUCCESS
As a catalyst for continued growth in the Topeka community, Cody Foster says he focuses on three main components of a business opportunity to decide if it’s worth the investment.
LOW COST OF CAPITAL TO START
Foster stresses the importance of financing business opportunities in a way that minimizes the amount of debt you take on. He believes this was reinforced during the pandemic.“We’ll be able to weather a lot of storms because we’re not huge fans of taking on a lot of debt,” he said. “Not having a huge mortgage payment or lease payment has been huge in helping us sustain things, like we all saw during the pandemic.”LOW BARRIER TO ENTRY
When Foster explores a potential business venture, he always evaluates the competition. Finding a service or product that doesn’t have an already saturated market will lead to better success.
“What excited me about the Cyrus Hotel was that there weren’t a ton of newer hotels in the area,” Foster said. “So we felt like we had a low barrier to competition and we could become the premier hotel in the community.”EVALUATING COST MARGINS
Service-based businesses are a great example of opportunities that provide a high cost margin. Regardless, keeping a close eye on labor costs and managing finances well are crucial.
“This is why restaurants can be tough sometimes,” Foster says. “They operate on such a thin margin and you have to do everything really, really well. Fortunately, I think that’s why we’ve found some success with our restaurants because I have people like Seth and Don (AIM Strategies) that pay attention to our numbers and manage the heck out of those. If you’re in a business that isn’t necessarily a bigger margin business and you don’t manage it well, you can get yourself in trouble.”
