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Kansas City Business Journal
2024 Champions of Business — A.L. Huber
Family-owned general contractor A.L. Huber Inc. launched 120 years ago, but it continues to change with the times while relying on its original core beliefs. This adaptability has allowed the company to continue to grow well into 2024 and beyond.<\p> “I have been here 39 years, and the culture is the same, but change is the thing that has allowed great growth,” CEO Phil Thomas said. “It’s built on an old foundation, but it’s all about change and doing things through the absolute best processes and willingness to change them every day.”<\p>
KC ad agency wins big North American contract
Signal Theory, one of Kansas City's largest advertising agencies, is rolling in new business with tire company Michelin North America Inc. <\p> The agency won a contract to handle marketing for Michelin’s tire categories business throughout its commercial markets in the U.S. and Canada; the companies did not disclose the deal's value. The agency’s work also will extend to Michelin’s portfolio tire brands, including BFGoodrich Tires, Uniroyal Tires and Camso. <\p>
Work starts on Oak Grove 'build-to-rent' development
Oak Grove is adding 40 townhomes that will all be for rent. <\p> Lee's Summit-based Sallee Development recently began work on Rustic Heights, a development located on Fourth Street. It will span 18 acres and have 176 units, along with a communal pool, playground and walking trails, according to a release.<\p>
Agreement allows construction delay on $2B OP mixed-use project
Construction on Meridian, a $2 billion redevelopment of a former golf course in Overland Park, will now be completed on a two-year delay. <\p> Last week, the Overland Park City Council unanimously approved an amended development plan for the project formerly known as Brookridge. <\p>
Shawnee hits the brakes on $35M, 400-job trucking facility off K-7
After several months of review, plans to develop a transportation hub in northwest Shawnee have been rejected. <\p> The Shawnee City Council voted 7-1 on Tuesday to deny a rezoning request from national freight hauler XPO Inc. to develop a new trucking facility off Kansas Highway 7. <\p>
AdventHealth taps out-of-town CEO to lead Lenexa campus
While a grand opening is still more than a year away for AdventHealth Lenexa City Center, the health system already has tapped an out-of-town executive to lead the hospital.<\p> AdventHealth named Sissel Jacob CEO of the Lenexa campus. She spent the last two year as CEO of AdventHealth Manchester in Kentucky. She also worked in several leadership roles at AdventHealth hospitals in Colorado. <\p>
KC agency may pair hotel with riverfront casino
Stakeholders in Bally's Kansas City Casino are preparing to rework master lease terms to support construction of a new hotel in the Berkley Riverfront area.<\p> Officials with the Port Authority of Kansas City on Monday shared new details on the hotel being discussed by Rhode Island-based Bally's Corp. and Overland Park-based developer True North Hotel Group. The parties now contemplate a SpringHill Suites by Marriott hotel, just west of the casino at 1800 E. Front St., with 125 to 150 rooms and design features upgraded beyond the flag's ordinary standards, said Joe Perry, Port KC's vice president of real estate. <\p>
Lawsuit targeting small-business grant program is tossed
A judge has tossed a lawsuit targeting Progressive Insurance and small-business funding platform Hello Alice for a grant program offered to Black small business owners.<\p> The decision, handed down by the U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio, found plaintiff Nathan Roberts, owner of Cleveland-based Freedom Truck DIspatch LLC, lacked the standing to sue the companies over a grant program it offered to Black small-business owners to purchase a new truck.<\p>
KC entrepreneur readies for second Zona Rosa store in less than a year
Less than a year after opening her first brick-and-mortar store, Annie Austen is prepping for her second.<\p> “Just the success has been incredible. Our very first holiday season was busier than we could have anticipated,” Austen said of her jewelry and accessories store, Annie Austen, which opened July 1 in Kansas City’s Zona Rosa shopping center.<\p>
SCORE Kansas City event will help entrepreneurs tackle financing
SCORE Kansas City is ready to help entrepreneurs tackle a top business challenge: funding. <\p> The nonprofit, dedicated to helping small businesses flourish, is hosting its second Acce$$ to Money event on Friday at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Conference Center at 4801 Rockhill Road in Kansas City. It kicks off at 8:30 a.m., and registration is required. <\p>
Breakfast/lunch eatery opens in Downtown
The Kansas City Power & Light District has welcomed another restaurant.<\p> HomeGrown opened Tuesday at 101 E. 13th St., taking over a nearly 5,000-square-foot space previously occupied by Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, one of the district’s original tenants. <\p>
How HCA became a dominant KC-area hospital system
HCA Healthcare, the largest health care system in the U.S., pushed into the Kansas City market in 2003, when it acquired the 12-hospital system Health Midwest for $1.13 billion and created HCA Midwest Health division. <\p> Since then, the for-profit system has grown into Kansas City's largest private-sector employer and established itself as the largest health care provider by investing $2.5 billion in health care services and building an expansive local real estate footprint. <\p>
Resume gaps aren't the dealbreaker they once were, but there's a catch
Job seekers worried about gaps in their resume might still have to deal with some pushback from hiring managers, but the market today has become more forgiving to such openings than it once was.<\p> According to a recent Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll survey, while 36% of hiring managers said they might be deterred by applicants' unexplained work gaps, the vast majority (95%) believe there are valid reasons to explain career gaps. The top reasons cited were health issues, staying home with a child, going back to school and caring for an elderly parent.<\p>
Bank sues to avoid sharing rooftop signage space with new tenant
Bank Midwest has sued the owners of Kansas City's largest multitenant office tower to avoid sharing rooftop signage space with a big new tenant.<\p> Last week, the division of Colorado-based NBH Bank filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in Jackson County Circuit Court against Town Pavilion Holdings LLC, which owns the 1111 Main building in Downtown. The bank seeks to bar the group from installing new signage for HNTB Corp. alongside Bank Midwest's on the 38-story tower's rooftop; the infrastructure firm plans to move its local headquarters there by the end of 2025. <\p>
Meet this year's Women Who Mean Business
More than 240 women applied for the Kansas City Business Journal’s 2024 Women Who Mean Business awards program, now in its 25th year.<\p> The 2024 class, like previous years, represents what Kansas City should be, including diversity in industries and backgrounds. To narrow the pack, our six judges took a closer look at aspects such as seniority and influence within a company, career accomplishments and how they’ve mentored other women.<\p>
The AI boom is coming for these at-risk manager roles
For years, front-line workers have worried about automation taking their jobs. It may end up being middle managers who are most in danger.<\p> Companies are gaining access to new artificial-intelligence tools and capabilities at the same time many are re-assessing their operations in a challenging post-pandemic economic environment. That combination of potential new efficiencies and a desire for cost savings is putting management-level employees in the crosshairs.<\p>
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