Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

[grovester]

Yeah, the thought that this can be changed with one person's will, persistence or conscience is pretty unlikely. It's got to be codified into law so officials can resist their "constituents".

[rxlexi]

Yeah, the thought that this can be changed with one person's will, persistence or conscience is pretty unlikely. It's got to be codified into law so officials can resist their "constituents".

Agreed. Some form of regulation needs to occur sooner than later to allow this region to move forward without continuing to hold itself back in the bigger competition nationally and even internationally.

So many local dollars, so much effort expended to shift jobs around in the metro will ensure it remains stagnant. Need more than talk at this point.

[bobbyhawks]

Now the interesting questions- Can anyone think of a firm with 1300 jobs looking for new digs?

Hmm. There are only a few I can think of from the top of my head that would be KCMO-origin transplants, and none of them make sense. Burns & Mac and H&R are pretty much tied to their current locales. Hallmark aint moving. I'd be surprised if KC Southern moved. Could DST be moving some folks to Kansas for tax purposes? Could Cerner be looking to move another group of employees to yet another geographically dispersed area in the city? Everything else reasonable I could think of with that many employees and an older facility would be located in JOCO.

[beautyfromashes]

KCMO City Hall? &&

[KCMax]

Solar company Sungevity selects Kansas City for expansion

Company officers said the vibrancy of downtown Kansas City, the professionalism of the people who pitched the city, the work ethic of the population and the annual big crop of graduates coming out of the area’s colleges and universities were big draws that sealed the deal....

Downtown assets such as the Power & Light District and the coming streetcar line contributed to choosing downtown, she said, as did its central location in the metro area, allowing the company to draw employees from all parts of the metro.

[bobbyhawks]

Solar company Sungevity selects Kansas City for expansion

Company officers said the vibrancy of downtown Kansas City, the professionalism of the people who pitched the city, the work ethic of the population and the annual big crop of graduates coming out of the area’s colleges and universities were big draws that sealed the deal....

Downtown assets such as the Power & Light District and the coming streetcar line contributed to choosing downtown, she said, as did its central location in the metro area, allowing the company to draw employees from all parts of the metro.

So, from where in JOCO did KCMO steal this company?

[Eon Blue]

They're from Oakland. That's why they don't know that JoCo is obviously better than downtown for reasons and such.

[pash]

.

[bobbyhawks]

They're from Oakland. That's why they don't know that JoCo is obviously better than downtown for reasons and such.

Company moving to KC area from outside the region? Does not compute.

[earthling]

The Star article says 4 SF Bay Area companies moved to KC in last year.

[kboish]

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business ... 31340.html

Star article about Dunn becoming the new Chamber chair.

I thought this was interesting

Dunn also looks to Mayor Joe Reardon of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan. Reardon will chair what Dunn calls a “safe harbor” group meeting under the auspices of Rockhurst University, designed to bring the area’s elected officials together for private, thoughtful discussions of regional issues.

[KCMax]

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business ... 31340.html

Star article about Dunn becoming the new Chamber chair.

I thought this was interesting

Dunn also looks to Mayor Joe Reardon of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan. Reardon will chair what Dunn calls a “safe harbor” group meeting under the auspices of Rockhurst University, designed to bring the area’s elected officials together for private, thoughtful discussions of regional issues.

#illuminati

[rxlexi]

Dunn's comments about competing with Omaha and Des Moines speak volumes about the way our old-school civic leadership views the region. Those are the peer cities he's referencing, not Denver/Austin/Minny.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Do we have the ability to compete with Denver/Austin/Minny? Steal companies from them? Or are we better off trying to compete with Omaha and Des Moines and stealing from them? Which approach has the greater chance of success?

[FangKC]

I think the simplest method would be to compare commercial office space rents, taxes, state and local economic incentives, and cost of living in the aforementioned cities, and see how competitive Kansas City would be.

Looking at it from a business point of view, one considers moving to another city because office space, taxes, and operating costs, are cheaper there. Then cost of living for employees may also be a big factor. For example, if keeping up with salaries and compensation is becoming an issue for a business, and you can't afford to lay staff off without losing effectiveness in your business, then one way to give employees a better standard of living is not raise their salaries, but to move to a city with a lower cost of living. An $80,000 salary is easier to live on in Kansas City than it might be in Denver, Chicago, or even New York City.

When I lived in Phoenix back in the 80s, Phoenix poached a lot of businesses from Chicago--and without using any incentives. The pitch was cheaper cost of living and operating, and the weather was nicer. At that time, one could hardly turn around without bumping into someone from Chicago. However, the cost of living in Phoenix was much cheaper then than it is now.

If cost of living and office rents are similar in Kansas City, Omaha, and Des Moines, then you probably aren't going to lure a lot of businesses into moving However, if office rents, operating and cost of living is significantly less in Kansas City than Austin, Minneapolis, Dallas, and Denver, then you probably can lure companies away from those cities--especially if you throw in some incentives. Of course it depends on the business. Some businesses tend to stay in cities where their economic fortunes are based. It would be harder to lure an oil company from Houston, Dallas, Tulsa, or Denver since those cities have a large presence of energy-related companies. Big media companies aren't going to leave New York or Los Angeles.

Despite our metro size, Kansas City offers many of the same amenities of larger cities. We have universities, sports teams, stadiums, a convention center, a new arena, a performing arts center with opera, ballet, and symphony, repertory theatre, art museums, amusement parks, a zoo, an aquarium, NASCAR racing, and a convenient airport with short flights to most parts of the country. Missouri and Kansas are fairly tax friendly states. Kansas City has a stable and varied economy with a high number of educated workers. Our energy prices are more stable and cheaper than a lot of places. We don't have water shortages.

While it's not really that significant yet, Kansas City is probably less prone to be affected by extreme disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, coastal flooding, forest and brush fires). Even terrorist attacks are less likely here.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Relocation of companies or establishing an office involve more than financial numbers. Otherwise, why would companies move to New York or Washington DC? Oil companies have more or less come together in Houston. Many companies establish a presence around Bentonville Ark.

If a lot of business travel is involved it is much easier to get around using KCI than airports in Omaha and Des Moines.

[flyingember]

Of course it depends on the business. Some businesses tend to stay in cities where their economic fortunes are based. It would be harder to lure an oil company from Houston, Dallas, Tulsa, or Denver since those cities have a large presence of energy-related companies. Big media companies aren't going to leave New York or Los Angeles.

You can't look at the industry of a company to say if they'll want to locate in KC.

Like that oil company may not open an engineering department in KC but a call center to support commercial sales to gas stations would fit perfectly into downtown.

A big media company won't open up a creative department downtown versus NYC but they could have their midwest ad sales home office or their digital platform development team locate in KC.

If you were looking to open a call center with a college educated staff at a hypothetical $14/hour rate you will get way more good applications in KC versus San Francisco.

[rxlexi]

Do we have the ability to compete with Denver/Austin/Minny? Steal companies from them? Or are we better off trying to compete with Omaha and Des Moines and stealing from them? Which approach has the greater chance of success?

My thought has little if anything do to with corporate poaching. I am speaking to the aspirations of the business community. What kind of city do we want to be in 10 years? What do we want to accomplish?

I am looking for sense of ambition in the leader of the regional business community - as I hope most would?

[aknowledgeableperson]

Definitely where we need to focus any incentives MO pays out...that freightquote thing was a joke.

Interesting development on Freightquote. It is being bought out by another firm. The new company does plan on expanding the local workforce.

[flyingember]

Definitely where we need to focus any incentives MO pays out...that freightquote thing was a joke.

Interesting development on Freightquote. It is being bought out by another firm. The new company does plan on expanding the local workforce.

the star said the expansion was required for MO incentives.

1000 to 1350 people for that