Willard Garvey, Garvey family named recipients of Kansas CCIM Chapter / WSU Center for Real Estate Lifetime Achievement Award

Willard Garvey and the Garvey family have been named the 2022 recipients of the Kansas CCIM Chapter / WSU Center for Real Estate Lifetime Achievement Award. This honor is given annually to those who have made a significant contribution to the commercial real estate and/or development industry in Wichita over a long period of time.

The Garvey family has been instrumental in Wichita’s development for more than 80 years. In 1940, Ray Hugh Garvey and his son Willard established Builders Inc., through which they built and managed over 2,000 apartments and attached fourplexes, around 5,000 single-family “cottages,” and several shopping centers.

After Ray Hugh’s death in 1959, Willard Garvey took over the organization and was responsible for numerous Wichita landmarks including the Garvey Center, Epic Center, The Independent School, several neighborhoods including Bonnie Brae, much of the Southwest Industrial Park, and additional apartment projects. The Garvey family continues to be active in the Wichita real estate community to this day, through Builders Inc., Bonavia Properties, and Cochener Garvey Capital Partners among others.

The award will be given at a luncheon hosted by the WSU Center for Real Estate and the Kansas CCIM Chapter at 11:30 a.m. Thursday Dec. 15, at the Marcus Welcome Center on the Wichita State campus. For reservations and more information, call the Realtors of South Central Kansas office at 316-263-3167. 
Garvey is the 17th recipient of the award. Previous recipients include Colby Sandlian (2005), Jack Hunt (2006), George Ablah (2007), Jack DeBoer (2008), Nestor & Michael Weigand (2009), Stephen L. Clark (2010) and Herbert L. Krumsick (2011), David Burk (2012), Rod M. Stewart (2013), Donald C. Slawson (2014), Darrell Leason (2015), Phil Ruffin (2016), George Laham (2017), Steven J. Martens (2018), Paul Jackson (2019) and Stanley D. Longhofer (2021).

For more information, contact Stan Longhofer with the WSU Center for Real Estate at 316-978-7163 or stan.longhofer@wichita.edu, or Michael Loveland with the Kansas CCIM Chapter at 316-292-3915 or loveland@weigand.com


Wichita State University is Kansas' only urban public research university, enrolling almost 22,000 students between its main campus and WSU Tech, including students from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries. Wichita State and WSU Tech are recognized for being student centered and innovation driven.

Located in the largest city in the state with one of the highest concentrations in the United States of jobs involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), Wichita State University provides uniquely distinctive and innovative pathways of applied learning, applied research and career opportunities for all of our students.

The Innovation Campus, which is a physical extension of the Wichita State University main campus, is one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, encompassing over 120 acres and is home to a number of global companies and organizations.

For more information, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wichitastate and Facebook at www.facebook.com/wichita.state.