KANSAS CITY TIF COMMISH REJECTS $63-MILLION PERKS FOR LUXURY HOTEL!!! DOWNTOWN RENAISSANCE DEAD?!?!



Social media keyboard pundits call this an end of an era and the outset of more accountability at City Hall . . . Meanwhile, locals who REALLY watch this game realize that the Whitney Kerr crew have consistently met with fierce opposition for their upscale ideas which have ALWAYS been a favorite punching bag for eco-devo hawks given the grandiose schemes.

Nevertheless, the smack down and cheering from the unwashed masses begs the question:

IS THE KANSAS CITY 'DOWNTOWN RENAISSANCE' DEAD GIVEN WIDESPREAD CELEBRATION OVER THIS LUXURY HOTEL SMACK DOWN?!?!?

With rising taxes, higher bills and more crime . . . Voters seem dissatisfied with the economic theory claiming that big money development will lift up the rest of KCMO.

Here's the roundup . . .

"A $63 million luxury hotel proposed near the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts will face a tougher road to a city incentive package after a big rejection on Thursday. The Tax Increment Financing Commission of Kansas City voted 8-3 to deny a request for a massive incentive package after six months of delays that the panel offered to the developer in an effort to generate agreement among all concerned parties. The development team is led by Whitney Kerr Sr. of Cushman & Wakefield and Eric Holtze of Denver-based EJ Holtze Corp. The hotel would be built near 16th and Wyandotte streets. The project advances to the City Council, but because the TIF Commission did not recommend the plan, it now requires a super majority on the council to advance, meaning the support of nine of 12 members."

Check the links . . .

KCTV5: Board declines to endorse TIF funding for KC hotel project

KCUR: After TIF Commission Rejects Crossroads Luxury Hotel, Kansas City Council Is Developer's Last Hope

KC Biz Journal: The $63 million luxury hotel proposed near the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts will face a tougher road to a city incentive package after a big rejection on Thursday.

You decide . . .

Comments

  1. No money to keep up this kind of development and we've already got a convention hotel. Selling a "four star" facility was always going to be tough. Don't expect TKC readers to understand the difference.

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    1. ^^^^^ The only difference is from which side of KC's pocket the money was coming from. In the end this is a good thing and I'm glad the new mayor is bringing real leadership to KC economic development for once.

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    2. Sly's administration basically bankrupted KC. No money left for nice things. Sorry.

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  2. ^^^^ If they wanted something nice, they could have built it with their own money. City never makes much of a fuss about permitting. This was luxury housing welfare and nothing less. At a time when we need more affordable housing. Glad it's dead. The council should kill it for good.

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  3. No more corporate welfare in KC. Not a bad thing.

    Signed,

    KC Taxpayer

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  4. Didn’t pay off the right people. Sorry.

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  5. Easy, legalize prostitution tax it and pay for and fill that hotel.

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  6. Wow. SHOCK!

    Developers must be pissed they may have to change this winters vacation plans.

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  7. So why should they have an incentive? They’re never here.

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  8. Another pleasure dome for the well to do. I guess luxury hotels are not the future of Kansas City?

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  9. Downtown will be dead in 10 years anyway so.....

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  10. "Projects" like this end up resembling the Frankenstein monster.
    They NEVER actually die.
    Watch for this to come back under a different guise and show up in front of a different agency that few know much about and that no one monitors.
    Maybe even "PortKC".
    It never changes.

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  11. Actually, I am familiar with the plan, developers and feel this project is worthy of the TIF incentive. If it was rejected, its because people don’t understand the details. Kansas City lacks any high quality hotel. Even the Intercontinental doesn’t compare with what their trying to accomplish. A convention hotel works fundamentally different than this project. Two different classes of hotels and it is designed to compliment the Kaufman and provide traveling artists with the accommodations that they deserve.

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  12. The downtown renaissance is probably not dead, but hopefully the taxpayer-funded renaissance is.

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    1. ^^^ unfortunately they're one in the same. Almost all of the development has been propped up by taxpayer subsidies and very little private investment except for one or two hotels.

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  13. This can be a unique asset. a glittering gem. spending $63mm is a small price for this level of luxury. Clearly the majority of people are incapable of understanding this. You should be grateful. The brand is really too good for most of you people.

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  14. @7:18 and @8:33, stop poking the animals with a stick, a few of them will actually believe you mean the bullshit you're posting.

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  15. If there is demand, the private sector should fund it! What happened to Capitalism.... Copaken, Kerr, Frantze, KC Chamber? You are just a bunch of State Socialists, Crony Capitalists!

    It’s time to name names!!!

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  16. 9:07 Nope, if any project deserved the TIF approval, it was this one. Numerous other project before it did not... and that left a bad taste. Now, we have a viable project that meets the standard and protocols, they reject the project that actually makes sense. Typical Kansas City bullshit... and Trash Nash is behind it.

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  17. Visit KC says our town has 25-million visitors a year and the agency is celebrated; Visit KC says we have too many hotel rooms and the agency is audited. You can have it both ways....you just have to ignore common sense.

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  18. This is a bird in the hand vs. 2 in the bush scenario:

    The property currently pays $0.00 in taxes (it only pays TDD taxes for the streetcar) due to a charitable exemption. The development would have increased the tax revenues from the site significantly in the first year and more after the TIF expires.

    The city and taxing jurisdictions are betting on another developer coming around soon who will ask for fewer or no incentives on the thought that this property is in high demand.

    If that's not the case, then the taxing jurisdictions will continue to get zilch.

    It is easier from a political standpoint to take a stand against "giveaways to wealthy developers" than to explain the costs/benefits and risks of approving the incentives vs. voting them down.

    It is ultimately a game of leverage and poker. I think the development team on this project thought they had more leverage, given that the property is worthless from a tax revenue standpoint in its current state.

    All city/county revenues come from the private sector and until government can generate revenues on its own (which it can't unless its the federal gov.) then their will always have to be some give and take on these type of deals.

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