A bigger, better and bolder Kansas City

Mar. 2, 2011  |  By: Bob Marcusse  |  Category: Advanced Energy, Biosciences, Economic Development, Entrepreneurs, KC Animal Health Corridor, KC Arts and Culture, KC Lifestyle, KC SmartPort, KCADC News
Tags: economic growth, Kansas City, KC Rising

I don’t know about you, but I am definitely sensing a renewed air of optimism for our region going into 2011. Maybe it’s just the promise that any new year brings, but looking ahead to the next several years, we have some pretty significant events to look forward to – the opening of the beautiful, iconic Kauffman Performing Arts Center and all of the national exposure that will bring; the All Star game we will be hosting in the spring of 2012; Ford’s $400 million reinvestment in their Claycomo facility; and the opening of a brand new stadium for Sporting Kansas City.

Admittedly, Kansas City has suffered in the current economic recession – but we have been recognized nationally for weathering the downturn better than many other markets across the U.S. There is no better time than the present to be looking toward the future. With all we have to look forward to and armed with resilience only afforded a few cities throughout history – it is time for KC to rise again.

KCADC has developed a plan that will result in a bigger, better and bolder Kansas City. The plan is regional in scope, bold in spirit and accountable to our KCADC investor partners and the regional community.

Called KC Rising, our goal is to attract, with our many regional economic development partners, companies to the KC region that pledge to create 15,000 new jobs by the end of 2016. These new jobs will add a cumulative new annual payroll of $1.8 billion and along with strong organic growth should increase our region’s GRP to $110 billion.

How will we achieve it? Here are some highlights:

• A revived, aggressive national media campaign that harkens back to KCADC’s early years as the Prime Time News Bureau. Focused on our region’s highly desirable lifestyle, our distinctive arts assets, our culture of innovation and our economic resilience, this campaign will target major national business and lifestyle media.
• High-impact national marketing that uses the most effective and latest tools to showcase our region’s best assets and position KC as a business-friendly, sophisticated metropolitan area.
• Continued strategic and targeted relationship building with national site location consultants who drive the majority of the market evaluations worldwide.
• Continued recruitment focus on key industries where KC offers unique assets for expansion: Transportation/logistics (KC SmartPort); animal health (KC Animal Health Corridor) and drug development/discovery; advanced energy (KC Advanced Energy); and IT/technology (KCnext).
• Assisting our regional economic development partners with business retention and fostering innovation.
• Support the growth of entrepreneurs with angel and venture funding, incubator services, and new legislation that creates a competitive advantage in Kansas and Missouri.

You will know if we are successful because we will be tracking our progress annually on jobs and payroll attracted through our efforts. We are focused and determined – a bigger, better and bolder Kansas City is coming.