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Kansas City Business Journal
KC business makes Yelp's top 100 list
One Kansas City company has landed a spot on Yelp's list of "Top 100 Local Businesses in the U.S." in 2024.<\p> KC Autowork, 505 Southwest Blvd., ranked among the top 10 businesses in the nation in the automotive category. The full-service auto repair shop was founded in 2011 by Patrick Cox.<\p>
More construction will start soon in JoCo industrial park
The Johnson County Board of County Commissioners on Thursday approved plans to support the next wave of development at a major industrial hub in Johnson County. <\p> The move gives the green light for master developer VanTrust Real Estate to start infrastructure work for phase two of construction at New Century Commerce Center. <\p>
NFL punts on private equity stakes — for now
The National Football League is the only major-league sport in the U.S. without a policy allowing private equity ownership in its teams, and that's not going to change for now.<\p> Kansas City Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt has been ex officio chairman of a special NFL committee on ownership policy since August 2023. The committee has been studying allowing private equity to buy minority ownership stakes in NFL teams. It presented a proposal to owners during their spring meetings, but no vote was taken. <\p>
Real estate commissions shakeup will require more agent scrutiny
The National Association of Realtors and several brokerages have struck big money deals to settle an array of class-action lawsuits around real estate commissions.<\p> It might become harder for homebuyers to figure out how to pick the right agent to work with in the wake of the settlements. That's because the settlements, which now add up to hundreds of millions of dollars, will also bring with them changes in how buying agents are paid, how homes are listed and may require more buyers to pay for an agent directly when buying a home. And if buyers potentially shell out thousands of dollars or more, they will have to do their own due diligence.<\p>
KC woman pleads guilty in $241,000 email scam of NY business
A Kansas City woman pleaded guilty to an email scam that stole $240,926 from a Brooklyn business.<\p> ETS Contracting Inc. was finalizing a deal with a vendor when it received an email with instructions for payment. The company thought it was legitimate and wired money, but the email’s source actually was Brianna S. Graves, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.<\p>
KCK manufacturer lands in 500-plus Walmart stores
Walmart started noticing its competitors had something it didn’t: Spicin Foods’ products. <\p> A Walmart buyer stopped by the Kansas City, Kansas, company’s booth at a California trade show event in March 2022 and asked: “How come we’re not doing business with you?” <\p>
Former KC union exec pleads guilty to racketeering charge
A former International Brotherhood of Boilermakers executive pleaded guilty in federal court to misappropriating union funds.<\p> Tyler Brown of Kansas City formerly was chief of staff for the Boilermakers, based in Kansas City. Federal prosecutors alleged that for 10 years, Brown reported to the union president and carried out his directives, including inappropriate spending, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice.<\p>
What employers need to know about the crushing childcare costs
In the coming weeks, schools around the nation will be out, and many employees will find themselves scrambling for child-care options. <\p> But child-care costs are soaring, thanks to the child-care cliff, a lack of new child-care centers and workforce shortages in the industry, among other factors. <\p>
KC-area bank restructures to make M&A easier
Already the largest independent depositor-owned community bank headquartered in the metro area, First Federal Bank of Kansas City reorganized its corporate structure to help it grow even bigger. <\p> The Leawood-based mutual savings bank formed a mutual holding company called Cosperity Bancorp Inc. Depositors approved the change during a special meeting in March, and it now has received approval from state and federal regulators. <\p>
Organization takes over foster care management in KC
KVC Missouri, which provides children's mental health care and services across Missouri, won a contract with the Missouri Department of Social Services to manage the recruitment, training, licensing and support of foster parents across Kansas City and Northwest Missouri. <\p> Cornerstones of Care previously held the contract for the past decade, which KVC took over on May 1. KVC will oversee about 500 foster homes. <\p>
40-year retailer in Crown Center will close
After 47 years, retailer Function Junction, which sold eclectic cooking utensils, will close at the end of June. <\p> Function Junction was once a chain with 17 locations, but the retailer now has one remaining store, on the second floor of the Crown Center Shops. All its merchandise is discounted between 20-70%. <\p>
KC employers consider whether to cover Ozempic, Wegovy
Since the middle of 2023, Jeff Long has been fielding insurance questions from friends and family about GLP-1s, medications used to treat obesity and Type 2 diabetes. <\p> “It went from something that I was talking about at work that nobody knew, to my friends and family saying, 'What do you know about GLP-1s?'” said Long, Kansas City-based vice president of health actuarial services at Lockton Cos. “I’m sitting there like, wait, you know the term, GLP-1?” <\p>
Compass Minerals faces a slew of messy challenges
By just about any measure, Compass Minerals International is not having good year. <\p> Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP) has shut down one promising business line, faced serious challenges in another, seen a $48 million net loss in the first quarter and become the target of litigation.<\p>
A Covid-era option for bankruptcy filings is about to expire
Small businesses will be left without a useful Covid-era bankruptcy tool when it expires in the coming weeks — a development occurring just as bankruptcies are on the rise.<\p> The program, called Subchapter V, was created to enable businesses with less than $2.75 million in debt to go through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization process in a streamlined way. In March 2020, as the pandemic took hold across the country and worldwide, Congress raised that benchmark to $7.5 million, allowing many more businesses to use the Subchapter V option. <\p>
Lenexa OKs first phase of massive apartment project along K-7
The Lenexa City Council on Tuesday approved a final construction plan for the first phase of a 529-apartment complex near Kansas Highway 7. <\p> In the project's first phase, developer Oak IQ Investments intends to build 289 apartment units across eight buildings at the northwest corner of 89th Street and Woodsonia Drive. <\p>
The 'lock-in' effect is hitting homebuyers. It may get worse.
Americans expect high mortgage rates to rise even more in the coming years, a perspective that could further dampen the housing market.<\p> The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s SCE Housing Survey found Americans expect mortgage rates to climb from just under the 7% they are now to 8.7% a year from now and 9.7% in three years — the highest recorded since the agency started asking Americans that question in 2014.<\p>
Developer soon will raze Plaza church for 3-story restaurant project
Drake Development LLC is preparing to demolish an 82-year-old church to make way for a new multirestaurant building on the Country Club Plaza.<\p> The Overland Park developer anticipates that asbestos remediation will start as soon as next week in The Seventh Church of Christ, Scientist's longtime former home at 604 W. 47th St. Two to three weeks later, Drake President Matt Pennington said the building will be torn down for Cocina 47, a three-story building planned for multiple fine-dining restaurants, plus new space for the church, which has temporarily relocated to the Jack Henry Building next door. <\p>
Apartment market cools with record amount of new supply wrapping up
The national rental-housing market has continued to cool, with differing outcomes based on geography and unit type.<\p> Several markets in the South posted significant year-over-year declines in apartment rental rates as of April, according to a new Realtor.com analysis. Those declines were led by Nashville, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas, the latter of which has seen an 8.3% annual drop in asking rents and an 11.5% drop since peaking September 2022. <\p>
Guillies dives into her 'third career'
Longtime Kansas City leader Wendy Guillies is launching her own business, which will help fill local leadership positions temporarily. <\p> "Guillies On Point" will provide "fractional leadership solutions for roles including executive director/CEO, marketing and communications, and special projects," Guillies said in a LinkedIn post announcing her new venture. She called the business her "third career." <\p>
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