Andrews McMeel Publishing to Boley Bldg.

[DaveKCMO]

wow. a TIF that everyone can agree on? see how far we've come? 

[FangKC]

Quick, someone propose a toast.

[zonk]

NOT SO FAST....

It's now on hold for a week...until Funky gets back from his book tour.

[K.C.Highrise]

lol. Seriously?

[zonk]

according to Prime Buzz...

If it was indeed delayed, this is shameful...delaying this project while Funky Funky is writing his auditing book.  Maybe he should entitle it "How NOT to be a mayor because I'm too focused on writing my Auditor Book"!  GET BACK TO WORK AND GET SOMETHING DONE!!!!!!

[DaveKCMO]

as always, there's more to the story...

http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/7213

What's in the secret agreement between the developer and the Kansas City School District?

  "We don't know," Hermann conceded in an interview Wednesday.

  On Thursday morning, Andrews McMeel lawyer Jerry Riffel said of the secret agreement, "It's pretty substantial, in my opinion." But he said the school district didn't want that information released.

    Wait a minute. KC taxpayers are going to hand over $4.8 million to Andrews McMeel and not know what another public entity is getting out of the deal? That's absurd.

[zonk]

yeah, and once again, nothings getting done.  That's the whole point of my post.  if Funky wern't on vacation, then they would have considered it, the "super-secret" school district would ahve been revealed and we'd be a step closer to getting....HOW MANY, 300ish $85,000/yr jobs downtown.  Pass the F'in deal and let's move on....it's only $4.8M...

[Rexruther]

Evidently, the Funk is too busy penning his latest literary wonder to the auditing world to be bothered with showing up to vote with the rest of our City Council on this our "first test" of the newly adopted incentive policy.  Having bought some time to conjure up a lame objection or two to the AMU approval, he is relying on his soothsayer Yael to further lend credence to the need to perhaps re-evaluate the merits of the deal, claiming that "the forces of evil" have once again attempted to hoodwink the fine citizens of our fair city.  COME ON PEOPLE WAKE UP.........LET'S GET ON WITH GETTING OUR DOWNTOWN WHERE IT NEEDS TO BE.  What this is really about is an arrogance beyond all logic, and a sense that somehow the Funk and his minions will save us from ourselves.   

[Valdoro]

Its about time someone focused on the fact that we need to "keep our eye on the prize"..... Our Town needs another 15,000 to 20,000 residents downtown and a lot more businesses.  Don't think for a moment our "friends" across the state line are going to help us get that done.  Andrews McMeel is just the kind of company we need to attract downtown.  Right on Rex. 

[GRID]

Its about time someone focused on the fact that we need to "keep our eye on the prize"..... Our Town needs another 15,000 to 20,000 residents downtown and a lot more businesses.  Don't think for a moment our "friends" across the state line are going to help us get that done.  Andrews McMeel is just the kind of company we need to attract downtown.  Right on Rex. 

I have been saying that all along and it has done nothing but piss everybody off

[ignatius]

Its about time someone focused on the fact that we need to "keep our eye on the prize"..... Our Town needs another 15,000 to 20,000 residents downtown and a lot more businesses.  Don't think for a moment our "friends" across the state line are going to help us get that done.  Andrews McMeel is just the kind of company we need to attract downtown.  Right on Rex. 

While I'd like to see downtown population double, I'm not sure I'd like to see the downtown workforce double to 200K.  It needs to increase but I think a 125-150K workforce would be ideal, and then increase through midtown/plaza.  But downtown KC's workforce of 100K is inline with other cites, it's just that KC's is more spread out, to Crown Center.

page 5
http://www.downtowndenver.com/pdfs/03Do ... ackage.pdf

Growing downtown population is more important than growing workforce at this point methinks.  Growing KCMO workforce as a whole is important though, and this project is just a shift.

I guess I'm one of those people who doesn't want KC to become too big of a city.  If I wanted that, I'd move to one.

[FangKC]

Growing the downtown residential population is the priority because it will eventually lead to more downtown retail, sales and e-taxes, workers and jobs.   Companies locate where the best workers are.

I wouldn't mind seeing 200K workers downtown because KCMO and Jackson County need the revenue to support amenities from which everyone in the area benefits. Remember that KCMO in Jackson County has lost population since the 1980s, and it's been redistributed over a larger land area (mostly to the Northland and Clay and Platte counties). Yet, KCMO and Jackson County are still trying to support big-city amenities from the era of the 1970s when it was at it's highest population.  The City and County struggle to support these amenities when residents live in other counties and don't contribute financially in some way.  But most of all, we need the sales and property taxes being collected from a lot more residents to help pay for big-ticket, deferred projects like infastructure and parks.

The other thing is that the remaining population in KCMO/Jackson County has changed. We lost a lot of the higher-earning residents and a lower-earning resident population is relied upon to support the City.  We need to bet some of the high-earning jobs and residents back.  Much of the housing stock on the east side is also of much lower assessed value than in other parts of the City.

It's going to take another 25-30 years of central core growth to get where the City needs to be. About that time, we are also going to have to decide what to do about Truman Sports Complex.  Do we decide then to build a baseball stadium downtown?  Will we need to build a new Arrowhead Stadium, and do we keep it there or move it?    Jackson County will need more residents to pay for new stadiums then, and we don't want to be in the position of  having to depend on suburban municipalities and counties for help.  We want to be in a strong enough position to fend off any attempts to move the stadiums to the edge of the city or to Kansas.

We will also need that many people living and working downtown to support and maintain mass transit and light rail, and keep them financially afloat.

[DaveKCMO]

Questions mount on Andrews McMeel TIF deal

1. Does the company have an independent study showing the long-empty Boley Clothing Building is really worth $5.1 million -- which would require $1.8 million from taxpayers?

"Not to my knowledge," Hinmon said.

Without concrete proof of the building's worth, the city could be on the verge of using tax dollars for an excessive payment for a building being sold by Copaken, White & Blitt.

2. What's in the confidential agreement between his company and the Kansas City School District?

Hinmon said the district had approached the company weeks ago, seeking more dollars than a regular TIF would supply.

The district now expects to get an extra $900,000 as a result of the agreement with Andrews McMeel. Hinmon said the school district wanted to keep the arrangment confidential.

That's great for the school district, if it can get away with such a tactic.

But what about poor KC?

I pointed out to Hinmon that the city's fact sheet says the Andrews McMeel TIF deal will create a net economic loss for the city. That's because much of the company's future city taxes will be deferred to pay for the move to the Boley Building.

So did city officials approach the company to get a sweetheart deal like the school district's?

No, Hinmon replied, there were no conversations along those lines.

He did note that the city worked out some clawbacks in the TIF application. The clawbacks would economically punish the company only if it does not maintain promised employment levels at the Boley Building.

[KCMax]

How aggravating. I really hope I am in a negotiation with the City Council someday.

"Yea, I'd like to do this project with $2 million in tax incentives and it will probably be a net loss economically for the city, but it will bring in some jobs."

"Jobs? Great! But sorry, we can't give you anymore than $4 million in incentives."

"That's more than I asked for."

"Fine, you drive a hard bargain. $5 million it is, and we'll throw in a parking garage. But that's our final offer!"

[DaveKCMO]

lawyers.

[DaveKCMO]

From:   mayor@kcmo.org
Subject: News from the Mayor's Office -- Mayor to support Andrews McMeel Universal develepment
Date: October 11, 2007 12:27:30 PM CDT
Reply-To:   mayor@kcmo.org

News from the Mayor's Office
City of Kansas City, Mo.
www.kcmo.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 11, 2007

Statement from Mayor Mark Funkhouser regarding
the Andrews McMeel Universal TIF application.

I will support the Andrews McMeel Universal TIF when it comes before the City Council today.

I think Andrews McMeel is a perfect company to fill the long-empty, historic Boley Building. It will place more than 200, well-paid employees within a couple blocks of the new downtown entertainment district. The plans to use the first floor to market the companys internationally known comic characters will be a welcome addition to downtowns street life. And the project has a relatively high ratio of private to public investment.

Though it was proposed as the City Council was working to create an Economic Development and Incentive Policy, the developers did make changes in recognition of the policy.

Specifically:

- They agreed to a fixed cap on the public reimbursement, regardless of any new taxes that might be approved in the future.
- They agreed to an aggressive claw back that would return earnings tax money to the city if the company falls short of its projected employment levels.
- And they reached out to the Kansas City, Missouri, school district in a way I havent seen before, working out an agreement that earned the endorsement of School Board President David Smith.

Im convinced that the new policy, and the accompanying city fact sheet, gave the City Council and the public much more information about the financing of the development than they would have gotten in the past. Going forward, we will be able to use that information to make future proposals even more beneficial to the city.

For more information contact Kendrick Blackwood in the Mayors office, 816-513-3513.

[KC-wildcat]

I think Andrews McMeel is a perfect company to fill the long-empty, historic Boley Building. It will place more than 200, well-paid employees within a couple blocks of the new downtown entertainment district. The plans to use the first floor to market the company's internationally known comic characters will be a welcome addition to downtown's street life. And the project has a relatively high ratio of private to public investment.

Enough said.

Good to see Funkhouser making rational decisions in the name of progress and development.  Let's hope for more of the same in the future. 

[aknowledgeableperson]

Wonder what GRID has to say about the Funk now?

[Pork Chop]

The Kansas City Council on Thursday unanimously approved Andrews McMeel Universal's tax increment financing request to move to Downtown.

Councilman Russ Johnson said the approval shows that "Kansas City is open for business."

"If you want economic development incentives from Kansas City and you've got the right package, let's take a look," he said.

http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansa ... st=b_ln_hl

[zonk]