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The National Observer: Here's where the money lives
Welcome to The National Observer, a roundup of top business news and actionable insights from across The Business Journals network of publications. Today,y we've got stories on the rising number of towns in which the median home costs more than $1 million; the interest office tenants are taking in their landlords' financial situation; and plans for a multibillion-dollar supercomputer complex by Elon Musk. But first, here's our inaugural list of the ZIP codes with the greatest concentrations of wealth in the U.S.<\p> Get more stories like these every day in your inbox by subscribing to The National Observer newsletter.<\p>
Swope Health Village campus promises $100M in investment
Swope Health is advancing a $100 million phased development that would locate senior housing, behavioral health units and different health care services on one East Side campus.<\p> The health care provider recently filed preliminary plans for Swope Health Village, a master planned campus on about 12 acres southwest of 59th Street and Swope Parkway. Swope's plan submission comes after the City Council's approval of up to $5 million to fill a funding gap in the project's $15 million first phase, and a future development agreement requiring those funds to be reimbursed through another city agency. <\p>
Evergy CFO will leave for a job with storied NYC utility
Evergy Inc.’s CFO has left for the bright lights of a storied utility company.<\p> Kansas City-based Evergy (Nasdaq: EVRG) announced Monday that CFO Kirkland Andrews will leave the company. Andrews, who had been CFO at Evergy since February 2021, will fill the same role at New York City-based Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED) beginning next month.<\p>
Cooling EV demand prompts Panasonic to rethink growth strategy
Panasonic is rethinking its strategy to ramp up battery production capacity amid slow electric-vehicle sales in the U.S.<\p> The manufacturer previously set a goal to quadruple battery cell production capacity to 200 Gigawatt hours (GWh) and triple its revenue to more $19 billion by March 2031. <\p>
Big deadlines loom for Realtors commission lawsuits
The class-action lawsuits that rocked the residential real estate industry over the last year are barreling toward a possible conclusion — and some big changes in the remainder of 2024. <\p> One of the most important deadlines is Aug. 17, 2024, when the NAR has said it would implement a series of changes as part of its own $418 million settlement agreement over buyer commissions. <\p>
These are the 2024 CFO of the Year honorees
Twelve honorees were picked this year for the Kansas City Business Journal’s CFO of the Year Awards, which recognizes top financial officers in the Kansas City metro.<\p> A panel of judges picked the honorees and looked at aspects such as company tenure, what they’ve done to move the needle in recent years at their company and community involvement. Both for-profit and nonprofit financial officers living and working in the Kansas City metro were considered. KCBJ defines the metro area as Jackson, Cass, Clay, Ray and Platte counties in Missouri, and Johnson, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties in Kansas.<\p>
Gen Z cites housing affordability as its top election issue
In the wake of rapid home-price appreciation during the Covid-19 pandemic, housing is playing a bigger role in how Americans vote — among one demographic in particular.<\p> Ninety-one percent of adult Gen Zers said in a recent Redfin Corp. (Nasdaq: RDFN) survey housing affordability is important when considering whom they will vote for in the presidential election this November. Among a list of nine broad political topics, the subject ranked No. 1 for that generation — ranking even higher than the strength of the overall economy, which was the top priority for millennials, Gen Xers and baby boomers. Housing affordability for Gen Z respondents also outranked issues of education, gun rights and abortion rights.<\p>
Plaza restaurant will get new name as result of partnership
A longtime Country Club Plaza restaurant will get new management and a new focus.<\p> W.VinZant Restaurants said Friday that it was partnering with the founders of Bo Lings on an evolution of the Plaza location. The Chinese restaurant will be renamed Heritage-Asian American Fusion and the menu will feature staples of Bo Lings’ offerings along with “elevated entées with American elements,” according to a release.<\p>
Area public company names new CFO to go with new CEO and COO
With a change of its chief financial officer, Compass Minerals International has changed out three of its top executive offices this year.<\p> The Overland Park-based company said Friday that it had promoted Jeffrey Cathey from chief accounting officer to CFO. Cathey, who joined the company in December, succeeds Lorin Crenshaw in the position.<\p>
Lee's Summit weighs $206M project at long-empty site
Drake Development LLC is getting its ducks in a row for its second big mixed-use development in Lee's Summit: an industrial site that years ago housed ADESA Kansas City's auto auction facility.<\p> The Overland Park developer last month got the City Council's go-ahead to plan around "conceptual" incentives for Oldham Village, an up to $206.2 million redevelopment of about 50 acres off Oldham Parkway, southwest of Missouri Route 291 and U.S. Highway 50. Drake, the lead builder behind the Streets of West Pryor project in Lee's Summit, bought the 35-acre ADESA site in March 2021 and through November assembled 10 more surrounding acres.<\p>
Graves Garrett Greim adds new partners
Kansas City-based Graves Garrett Greim LLC promoted Aaron Craig and Joe McGroder to partner and named Chandler Carr counsel at the firm. <\p> Craig is a 15-year veteran attorney with experience handling complex civil litigation, including product liability, class-action and general tort matters. He joined Graves Garrett Greim in April and has experience working for McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan PC, Lathrop GPM, PEAK Litigation LLP and Shook Hardy & Bacon. He clerked for Judge Gary Fenner in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri after earning a law degree from Creighton University.<\p>
Another 2 Red Lobster restaurants in KC could close
A recent filing in the Red Lobster bankruptcy case showed the Orlando-based restaurant chain may have to close 120 more restaurants nationwide, including another two in the Kansas City area<\p> Orlando Business Journal reported on May 22 that more possible closings could come if the company can’t get better terms from its landlords, which would mean cutting up to another 8,400 jobs across the nation, based on it having 60-70 employees per restaurant. <\p>
See who attended a Meet the Business Journal networking event [PHOTOS]
Building a network of sources is at the foundation of journalism, and a Friday morning event aimed to bolster the Kansas City Business Journal's rolodex. <\p> KCBJ held a Meet the Business Journal event at CrossFirst Bank's corporate headquarters in Leawood. About 100 people showed up to network.<\p>
Electrifying business fleets brings possibilities, challenges
Although consumer interest in electric vehicles has slowed, electrifying business fleets may be gaining some momentum — but roadblocks loom for widespread adoption. <\p> Kansas City-based WHC Worldwide, which operates the taxi service zTrip, is investing in electrifying its cabs. The company has added 100 EVs to its zTrip fleet, including 18 fully electric vehicles and 14 hybrids in this market, CEO Bill George said. Those still represent a small percentage of its cars: zTrip has 350 vehicles in the metro among its 3,000 in 36 U.S. cities.<\p>
OMB Bank stays mum on vacant KC leader role
It’s been nearly two months since Doug Parker resigned as Kansas City community president for Springfield, Missouri-based OMB Bank, and the position is still vacant. <\p> The company has not disclosed its plans for the role. Parker resigned in April and accepted a job as director of business development for Overland Park's Crown CFO, a provider of fractional CFO services.<\p>
KC's largest health system taps new chief medical officer
HCA Midwest Health tapped a Texas health care executive to lead the Kansas City-area system as chief medical officer. <\p> Dr. Eric Benink now is chief medical officer of the largest hospital system in the area. Benink, who began in the role June 1, is responsible for managing clinical quality and safety efforts throughout the health system. He also will oversee its graduate medical education, trauma and laboratory programs, which offers residency training to local physicians. <\p>
Jackson County game plans to attract Chiefs — and repel Kansas
Elected officials in Jackson County and Missouri face renewed questions around how a revised stadium financing proposal for the Kansas City Chiefs could look, in light of a hype campaign launched in Kansas this week aimed at bringing the team across the state line.<\p> Jackson County's financial support for a Chiefs stadium project still may come from a new sales tax if voters approve a team-specific ballot question. Such a measure would be untethered from plans for a Kansas City Royals ballpark in the East Crossroads, which would have received half the proceeds of a three-eighths-cent sales tax county voters shot down by a landslide 58.1% to 41.9% margin on April 2.<\p>
Top 150 Private Companies: Take a deeper dive into data, information
Our annual presentation of the Kansas City area's top private companies generates a mountain of data and information for readers.<\p> In this article, we help you sift through key facts and figures about the Top 150 companies featured in our weekly edition. (Click on the List link below to see 500-plus area private companies.)<\p>
Top 150 Private Companies: See what makes these 8 tick
As part of our Top 150 Private Companies presentation, we visited with eight businesses on this year's List to offer a glimpse into what makes their organizations tick. You'll find their revenue, rank and insight into their operation. They are sorted alphabetically.<\p> Rank: 129<\p>
Visit KC, Sports Commission: Two teams now share one office
Visit KC and the Kansas City Sports Commission & Foundation are settling into their new shared office space in the 1111 Main building, formerly known as Town Pavilion. The organizations, both under the leadership of Kathy Nelson, moved into the space on the downtown building’s 34th floor in March. <\p> Finding a new space for Visit KC was one of the first things the board tasked Nelson with when she was hired as CEO in 2022. Visit KC was working out of the Spark coworking space at Two Light, and the Sports Commission had offices in Crown Center. The two organizations have different staffs, minus Nelson, and different missions, but both share the task of promoting Kansas City. Nelson split time between two locations, with the goal of bringing them under a single roof.<\p>
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