Brownfields Showcase Community Fact Sheet

Community Profile

Kansas City, Kansas & Missouri

Kansas City will build upon the work of its Brownfields Initiative, a coalition of community, industry, and federal and local government representatives committed to redevelopment of the bi-state Central Industrial District. Among the city's redevelopment projects is the $234 million restoration of historic Union Station.

Background

The Brownfields National Partnership has selected the Cities of Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO as a Brownfields Showcase Community. The population of the greater Kansas City metropolitan area is 1,690,343. Many of the bi-state area's brownfields sites have been identified in the federal Enhanced Enterprise Community (EEC). The EEC has a population of 49,399, some 68% of whom are African American and 10% of whom are Hispanic. The area's poverty rate is 39%, while unemployment is 16.6%.

The focus of the cities' bi-state brownfields efforts lie within the Central Industrial District (CID), downtown, the central business corridor, the central city neighborhoods of Kansas City, Missouri; the riverside areas of Kansas City, Kansas and Wyandotte County; and scattered areas known collectively as the "Industrial Crescent." Site identification will be conducted by the cities' economic development corporations, commercial realtors, industry representatives, federal databases, and property and business owners, and will include properties undergoing bankruptcy or foreclosure.

The cities have also formed several partnerships to aid them in their efforts. The Kansas City District of the Corps of Engineers has worked on past flood control projects with Kansas City, and has proposed a cost-share program to assume 50% of the brownfields assessment costs in a brownfields pilot program. Many of the community groups adding their support are currently participating in brownfields redevelopment projects around the metropolitan area. In addition, by partnering with each other, the cities formed the Kansas City Bi-State Brownfields Initiative (KCBI) and were able to receive an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot grant (the first bi-state award in the country).

Current Activities and Achievements

The Kansas City Showcase Community will continue to build upon the efforts of the KCBI and the EPA Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot program. There are currently numerous other brownfields redevelopment projects underway. Highlights of the cities' brownfields redevelopment programs include:

• Partnering with the National Park Service through its Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program to build a riverfront "heritage trail";

• Utilizing the Department of Housing and Urban Development grants and secured loans totaling $14.2 million to help redevelop the oldest functioning railroad roundhouse turntable in the United States into the Westside Business Park, consisting of mixed-use office, retail, commercial distribution, and educational facilities;

• Converting Union Station, once the country's second largest railroad station, into a mixed-use science center, museum, retail and transportation complex;

• Incorporating the latest energy efficient and environmental conservation technology to renovate the New York Life Building into Utilicorp headquarters;

• Cleaning up the Prior Brass site, once home to a railroad brass bearings foundry, to prepare it for redevelopment; and

• Preparing the Kansas City Structural Steel site, a 22-acre former lead smelting and steel plant, for development into a mixed-use business park.

In addition, Kansas City has already identified and is gathering information on eight other sites with strong redevelopment potential.

Showcase Community Objectives and Planned Activities

The cities will identify brownfields and incorporate its redevelopment into existing strategies for regional planning. The cities will utilize a geographic information system (GIS) or equivalent database to integrate local, state, and federal graphical representations of properties, land use, and economic incentives. In addition, the cities will analyze policies that may have contributed to brownfields or hindered their redevelopment. The cities hope to provide other cities with practical guidance for local, state, and federal cooperation and leveraging of resources.

By promoting the recent expansion of companies such as Gateway 2000, Wagner, Capital Electric and others as examples of redevelopment opportunities in the CID, the cities will work to prevent sprawl and the development of area greenfields. Other goals include preservation of historic sites; focusing on job creation as an important part of redevelopment; and partnering to provide job training. The cities will serve as model for the redevelopment of older industrial areas, as well as regional cooperation.

For more information on the Brownfields Showcase Communities,
visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/showcase.htm