Economic Development

The new Pennway Point entertainment district, which makes use of space that sat empty for years as industrial storage, is already making some neighbors in the Westside neighborhood uneasy. Developers are building the project without using tax money, but say they plan to seek incentives for the years ahead.

Kansas City last updated its economic development strategy in 2014, during a very different time for the metro. Some council members say the city should revise the plan to better include affordable housing, sustainable efforts and transit.

Kansas City last passed an overarching development policy in 2014. Officials say priorities — and the city's needs — have changed since then.

Refugees coming to Kansas City often need to learn how to drive in order to get a job or go to school. One Congolese man is stepping up to teach his fellow compatriots. Plus: Despite the fact that child care can cost more than a mortgage in Kansas, providers say they can barely afford to stay open.

Under the incentive deal, the developer would avoid paying about $28.9 million in taxes over the next two decades.

Child care is expensive for families, yet it doesn't bring in enough money for providers to grow or pay workers high wages. Kansas is at a crossroads.

Richard Chaves Jr. pumped nearly $30,000 into city council campaigns during the most recent election cycle. He wants to build roundabouts, a parking garage and commercial space near the airport — and wants city money to do it.

The state's microbusiness license program is supposed to give Missourians from disadvantaged communities a chance to enter the recreational marijuana industry.

Since the beginning of last year, a Kansas tax subsidy law known as APEX has allowed the state to use incentives to lure big companies like Panasonic and Integra. But the law may not be extended any longer, putting big development deals in jeopardy.

Luring Panasonic to Kansas with $830 million of incentives was considered a major victory for the state. But as the company builds its $4 billion plant in De Soto, it’s unclear if state lawmakers will even allow another mega-project package.

Kansas City's transit agency put an end to RideKCDC, the development nonprofit it used to give tax incentives to some controversial projects. Now, the transit agency will directly oversee transit-oriented development, which it says will make the process "better, stronger, faster."

Little progress has been made on an agreement that would guarantee workers fair wages and increase affordable housing near the new stadium. At a rally at City Hall, workers and Kansas City-area demanded the Royals sign a contract to ensure those protections.