Kansas City Community College Utilizes Strong Partnerships to Manage Upkeep of 110,000 Sq. Ft. Student Housing Building

Kansas City Community College is the third largest community college by enrollment in Kansas. This centrally located public two-year institution is committed to making sure students have a successful and enjoyable college experience. With an average enrollment of 9,000 students per year, the college is devoted to providing an education that fully prepares students to enter the workforce. 

The campus consists of about 2.2 million square feet of space today and the Director of Facility Services, Chris Gardner, shared with us that they are actively programming for another building downtown. His role focuses on managing all of the college’s facilities including all things electrical, plumbing and HVAC. On top of this, his team does building remodels, refreshes and repairs when needed. 

2022 was the first year that students lived on campus in the new student housing building, Centennial Hall. The housing director had students provide their own shower curtains, but Gardner and his team quickly found this was causing problems. When they hung the curtain rods, they were placed at a higher level than the standard curtain length, so students were having issues with flooding and excess water. He and his team spent countless hours cleaning up these messes, so they decided to work with Global Industrial to purchase shower curtains that are the proper length. This order was placed so that he and his team could install during student turns after the 2023 school year. 

Through their participation with OMNIA Partners, Kansas City Community College is able to leverage industry-leading supplier partnerships to meet their unique needs more effectively and efficiently than if they were sourcing suppliers on their own. 

He and his team are also working with Global Industrial to complete other tasks of student turns. In order to quickly repair and replace damaged aspects of the dorm in a timely manner, Kansas City Community College needs quick access to solutions, and that is what they have received from this partnership. Gardner’s Account Manager at Global Industrial, Cynthia Sexton, has worked tirelessly with him to ensure he is fully equipped with the solutions his team needs.