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Kansas City Business Journal
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>
Painting owned by Nelson-Atkins auctions for $21.7M
A painting by Claude Monet that the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art partially owned sold at a Thursday auction for about $21.7 million. <\p> "Mill at Limetz" was sold at Christie’s Auction Co. in New York to an anonymous buyer. The painting drew multiple bidders, according to a release from the Nelson-Atkins. <\p>
Project boom pushes KC infrastructure firm to ramp up local hiring
HNTB Corp. is ramping up hiring to bolster its workforce in Kansas City — the impetus behind plans to move to a larger office space in Downtown. <\p> Founded in 1914, the employee-owned engineering and design firm specializes in transportation and infrastructure projects. HNTB President Tom O’Grady said a growing demand for infrastructure work is driving company growth. <\p>
Workers with learning disabilities face stigmas in the workplace
There remains a big stigma facing workers seeking workplace accommodations for certain disabilities — and those employees worry asking for help will hurt their careers. <\p> A new survey by The Harris Poll on behalf of nonprofit Understood.org, which works with people who have learning and thinking differences such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia, found while 69% of workers know their employers must provide reasonable accommodations for disabilities, about 60% said there is still a stigma around asking their employer for support.<\p>
New-to-KC EV-maker looks to be teetering on bankruptcy
A new electric-vehicle player that recently came to town is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and offloading its vehicles to local dealerships throughout the country. <\p> Jeremy Franklin Automotive, a Mitsubishi dealership in Kansas City, is one of those dealers. Fisker Inc., a California-based EV startup, added the dealer-partner location in early May, along with ones in Pennsylvania, California and Guam. <\p>
UMB/HTLF merger will put KC bank among top 1% in U.S. for assets
UMB Financial Corp.'s acquisition of Heartland Financial USA Inc. is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, creating a financial institution in the top 1% of the U.S. by asset size. <\p> The combined entity is expected to have $64.5 billion in assets, $52.2 billion in deposits and $35 billion in loans. It’s expected to have a $6.2 billion market capitalization and a footprint of 197 branches across 13 states. <\p>
KC could set stage to tap $57.2M for urban park atop I-670
Kansas City officials look to execute terms that will allow $57.2 million in approved state and federal funds to be deployed for the South Loop Link project.<\p> The City Council on Thursday is set to review ordinances that would authorize agreements with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission and Missouri Department of Economic Development, together capturing a little more than a quarter of the urban park's $217.2 million budget. The highway commission will administer $28.6 million in federal funds earmarked in 2022; the Missouri DED deal involves another $28.6 million approved in the state's budget last year. <\p>
Walmart workers at JoCo facility may not be out of a job
Walmart notified Kansas that it offered to transfer hundreds of warehouse jobs in south Johnson County to a fulfillment center in Topeka.<\p> Walmart will end operations at its e-commerce facility at 30801 W. 191 St. in Edgerton, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice filed Friday. As a result, 318 employees will be laid off. <\p>
KC-area restaurateurs lose out on key funding resource
Mainvest had become a go-to funding resource for Kansas City-area restaurants wanting to get off the ground. <\p> But just six years after its founding, the Massachusetts-based business is shutting down. It announced the news May 14, and its final day of operation is June 14. <\p>
Sandblasting at Super Flea Market kicks up tenant lawsuit
A tenant at the Super Flea Market in Kansas City's Northeast is suing the building owner, claiming a sandblasting project contaminated its inventory with asbestos- and lead-laced dust, shutting down the business. <\p> Cubework.com Inc. runs the Super Flea Market inside a 2.25 million-square-foot building at 6200 St. John Ave. in Kansas City. The indoor flea market, originally a Montgomery Wards distribution center, opened in 1992 and leases space to vendors. Cubework said in a social media post that the building suffered frozen pipes in January, causing it to shut down operations for repairs. It plans to reopen the Super Flea Market in July. <\p>
KC distillery’s whiskey adds a splash of gold
Lenexa-based Union Horse Distillery Co. won a double gold and gold at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.<\p> The distillery, founded in 2010, won a double gold for its Rivalist American Single Malt Whiskey — meaning all members of a judging panel found that it warranted a gold medal rating. That is the most prestigious rating a spirit can receive. The competition involves almost 5,000 entries and more than 40 judges.<\p>
Parson: Taxpayers won’t pay in shooting defamation case
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson sent a letter to the Office of Administration on Monday ordering that state taxpayers not pay for the damages of three Missouri senators being sued for defamatory posts about the Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting in February.<\p> In the letter, Parson said, “I am writing about potential payments from the State Legal Expense Fund (LEF) to cover an adverse judgment against elected officials who falsely accused an American citizen of a heinous act and related it to his immigration status.”<\p>
Walmart plans massive layoffs at JoCo fulfillment center
A major retailer has notified the state of Kansas it will lay off hundreds of people at a warehouse facility in south Johnson County. <\p> Walmart will lay off 318 employees at its ecommerce facility at 30801 W 191 St., in Edgerton, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice filed Friday,<\p>
Former Research Medical CEO leaves hospital, but not health care
When Ashley McClellan left as CEO of HCA Research Medical Center, she set her sights on solving hospitals' biggest challenge — and expense. <\p> “As someone who has run hospitals for almost 20 years, every day our No. 1 challenge was patients needing our care yet struggling from a staffing perspective to have enough people to care for them,” said McClellan, who became Research Medical CEO in 2019 and stepped down in March 2023. <\p>
Panasonic's De Soto plant will build batteries for another EV
Panasonic signed a deal with a Norwegian company to begin producing batteries for commercial electric vehicles in De Soto. <\p> On Monday, Panasonic announced an extension of its partnership with Hexagon Purus to produce lithium-ion batteries that will power a new line of commercial semis. <\p>
UMB gets guidance on paying down Prairiefire's defaulted STAR bonds
The bank overseeing Prairiefire's nearly $65 million in defaulted sales tax revenue (STAR) bonds now has a clearer path forward as to how it should apply available funds from the Overland Park development to its first portion of outstanding debt.<\p> A judge in Minnesota's Hennepin County District Court on Thursday issued an order confirming that UMB Bank, the trustee for Prairiefire's STAR bonds, should proportionately split about $4.2 million across $14.9 million in principal and $1.75 million in interest that came due in mid-December. The order also clarifies that future interest will accrue on delinquent interest at the retail and entertainment project, on top of its three tranches of STAR bond principal.<\p>
Are investors re-entering the housing market after two-year retreat?
Investors could be launching a bit of a comeback in the U.S. housing market — although the reversal of fortunes comes amid a strategy shift for many investors in the face of low inventory. <\p> Purchases by investors grew 0.5% on a year-over-year basis in Q1, according to analysis by Redfin Corp. (Nasdaq: RDFN). Redfin defines an investor as any buyer whose name includes LLC, Inc., Trust, Corp. or Homes, or any buyer whose ownership code on a purchasing deed includes association, corporate trustee, company, joint venture or corporate trust.<\p>
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