Connectivity
One question that intrigued Tom Turner as it has many in the development community is whether the Crossroads district could be “effectively connected” to the under-utilized 18th and Vine just a mile or two due east.
“It could,” answered Jon Copaken, “only if we start taking public transportation seriously.” Copaken also argued for the need to improve streetscape and the street level, pedestrian environment. “In any other city that all of us would go to,” he said of the trip to 18th & Vine, “that would be a distance we would walk.”
As Olen Monsees observed, Mayor Kay Barnes had floated a proposal about a year ago to down-zone the area between Grand and Prospect from industrial to commercial. The affected business community was called into several meetings. They were not pleased. “She made an effort and it got attacked hard,” said Monsees. “I think it is a big step.”
Hot Town
Tom Turner told of being asked by a young man at a Colorado hotel where he lived. When Tuner answered, “Kansas City,” the fellow responded, “Oh that is really a hot town!”
“Your downtown is hot,” the fellow elaborated, “I bought a couple of condos down there. I thought that would be a great deal.” So inspired, Turner asked his colleagues whether the condo and multi-family market was as hot as the Colorado fellow believed, and, if so, who is doing the buying.
According to Doug Weltner, what is giving the boom legs are the people coming to town from Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, and other cities where they are used to condominiums.
“We’re doing closings with people who are buying them as investments,” added Diana Ennis. She wasn’t even sure whether they would live in the properties, but they had money enough to invest and wanted something tangible.
Mike Rainen, whose focus is multi-family, has seen real improvement in the last year. “People seem to still be adding product to the market in spite of the challenges.”
“There is an awful lot of east coast and west coast money—1031 money—coming into town,” said Estel Hipp. “Our investment guys talk to people in California who are ticked to death that you get a six-and-a-half cap rate deal here, or even less.”
And the beat goes on.
I Will Make Downtown Work
by Mark Funkhouser
The success of downtown is crucial to the future of Kansas City. Our $4.5 billion investment downtown must succeed, or our entire city will suffer. And it will succeed because city leaders are going to be smart with the money. It will succeed because City Hall will begin to work with business, not against them.
One area where we can be a lot smarter with the money is with tax-increment financing (TIF). This is an important tool, and I won’t do away with it. But we’ve been handing out these incentives without a real policy, so they’ve become controlled by a handful of well-connected developers and their attorneys.
We need a policy to make sure TIF is used in areas where it will have the greatest impact on the economy. Even my opponent agrees with me on this—though he never pushed for a policy in his eight years on the council and he’s never voted against a single TIF.
And we need to cut off the handful of TIF lawyers who are hoarding millions of our tax dollars (lawyers who, incidentally, are campaigning hard against me).
A thriving downtown depends less on big-money deals than on people and commerce. It depends on businesses large, medium and small—all of which need basic city services to survive. As auditor, I dug into every nook and cranny of City Hall. I know where the bodies are buried, so to speak. I know how to end the City Hall bureaucracy that slows business and development. I know what needs to be changed to make Kansas City work.
Lastly—and this is key—the success of downtown will depend on marketing. One of the most important things I learned while earning my master’s in business administration is the importance of buzz. We need to make downtown hip and exciting. That’s why I’ve reached out to Kansas City’s creative class. Without any incentives, these pioneers have revitalized abandoned corners of our city. We need these folks at the table—not just a well-connected few—so together we can build an energy and excitement downtown that the rest of the region can’t resist.
I Will Lead an Effort to Brand and Market Kansas City
by Alvin Brooks
I am pleased to have been part of the leadership team working to renew downtown, with $4.5 billion in private and public investment. Our challenge is to continue this remarkable progress, utilizing fewer tax incentives to accomplish the mission. Without question, downtown was truly blighted and required the major attention it is now receiving.
Downtown is our city’s largest economic engine. Its long term success will generate millions of dollars in new revenue for our city, in a large part from non-residents, which can be used to improve our neighborhoods, enhance the delivery of basic services, and maintain infrastructure. As Mayor, one of my top priorities will be to lead an effort to brand and market Kansas City, ensuring the long-term success of downtown.
The new City Charter approved by voters last August requires the City to develop a tax incentive policy. I fully support the development of such a policy and strategy because I believe the City’s use of all tax incentives should meet strict criteria.
In a global sense, TIF should only be granted in special and unique circumstances. Its application should be tied directly to an economic development strategy for the city, wherein it is granted only if it is supportive of that strategy. Priority projects are those that produce new quality jobs and substantial private investment in blighted areas.
As Mayor, I will propose dedicating only 50% of new property taxes generated by a TIF to build a project, rather than the current level of 100%. This would insure that our schools and other governmental sub-divisions that rely on property taxes realize growth in their revenue.
TIF should not be granted in the case of a retailer moving from one location to another within the city if it plans to close the store at the existing location. I would also oppose granting a TIF to a business that plans to locate near a direct competitor that is paying full taxes. The TIF commission should require retail projects to be independently evaluated to insure that the new projected sales taxes created by the project are actually new sales taxes and not substituted sales taxes.
I have decades of experience both outside and inside city government and believe I have the leadership skills required to unite our community, build consensus and move our city forward.