On Wednesday, June 9, the ABC Heart of America chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors hosted a panel of local economic development officials at its first in person post-COVID event.
Elli Bowen, vice president, business development at KC SmartPort, Greg Kindle, president of the Wyandotte Economic Development Council, and Rick McDowell, president and CEO of Lee’s Summit Development Council, joined moderator Eric Mann, business development manager at Emery Sapp & Sons, Inc., to discuss economic development successes and challenges in the Kansas City region.
“2020, as crazy of a year as it was, was a record year for the Kansas City regional industrial market from a new net new attraction standpoint of KC SmartPort. We attracted 12 new deals, just under $1 billion in capital investments, 3200 jobs and about $123 million in new payroll and plan to break that record again this year,” said Bowen.
Barring delays in getting steel, Bowen predicts that between 13 and 15 million SF of new industrial space could be delivered to the Kansas City market in 2021, which would be a record.
Bowen said there is a lot of activity in e-commerce, but between 80% to 85% of the projects she has seen in 2021 have been food and beverage related.
Approximately 83% of industrial space expected to be delivered to the market this year will be on a speculative basis, according to Bowen.
“I think that just goes to talking about investor confidence in the Kansas City market,” Bowen said.
KC SmartPort has been pushing cold storage, especially speculative cold storage. The average age of the cold storage facilities across the United States is more than 40 years, and vacancy rates are close to zero.
Liberty, Mo. will become the site of the area’s first new cold storage spec facility, which Bowen described as a project long in the making. The project is being developed by BCB Development.
One of the largest developments now under construction in Wyandotte County is the Urban Outfitters distribution facility located near the Kansas Speedway, which will contain 880,000 SF with 2000 employees.
Kindle said there are a lot of community benefits tied to the Urban Outfitters project. Wyandotte County and Urban Outfitters are working together to develop a transit program where Urban Outfitters will help pay for transit back to the main transit facility for 20 years.
Urban Outfitters also has committed to hiring employees from Wyandotte County. There will be connections to internships, a training program and a medical clinic. Kindle said Urban Outfitters also is working with Wyandotte County on a childcare solution.
Other projects underway in Wyandotte County include the redevelopment of the Schlitterbahn Waterpark by Homefield LLC; expansion by Edwardsville, Kansas-based Old Dominion Freight Line into Bonner Springs and the K-7 and I-70 corridor; and the redevelopment of The Woodlands for an Amazon fulfillment center.
Lee’s Summit, Mo. also is seeing new development projects, including the soccer complex by Paragon Star and the Streets of West Pryor by Drake Development.
“Last year we had a record year in Lee’s Summit for building and permits. We’re already 20% over that (in 2021),” said McDowell.
The City of Lee’s Summit purchased the entire city block across from city hall. The block will be anchored by a farmer’s market. The city plans to add office buildings, a boutique hotel and retail.
McDowell said he has lost projects because Lee’s Summit does not have available space, but that is about to change.
Property Reserve Inc. (PRI), a subsidiary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is plans to provide 4200 acres within the Lee’s Summit city limits to be available for purchase. This property represents 65% of the vacant land in Lee’s Summit - 1000 acres will be for commercial development and 3200 acres will be primarily residential.
“Now, it’s going to be a 20 year process. . . . They’ll sell land at 500 acres a tranche from what we’re hearing at this time. That’s going to start, we hope, in the next six months. That land is coming on the market and available. This is going to be our opportunity,” said McDowell.
The panelists also discussed what keeps them up at nights.
“I think consistently what keeps me up at night is trying to figure out this workforce situation. . . . We have the top one, second, third highest paid wages in the state of Kansas in Wyandotte County, but we’re in the bottom quartile when it comes to median household income. Figuring out how to get those working poor folks who get up every day, go to one or more jobs and still come home to poverty and not get connected to the really good paying jobs that we have in Wyandotte is mind-boggling. I can’t figure out how to fix that,” said Kindle.
“I think until this PRI comes on line, the one thing that keeps me up is that we do not have the available space. I’m tired of coming in second place in terms of projects,” McDowell said.
“I think what keeps us up is trying to put our finger on what’s next. Making sure we’re ahead of the game,” said Bowen.