The Clay County Economic Development Council recently held its annual State of the Cities Luncheon at Harrah’s North Kansas City on April 19. The conference brought together local developers, business leaders and municipalities to discuss several upcoming projects that aim to provide significant economic growth in Clay County. City officials from the county had the opportunity to share updates on public and private developments happening in their communities.
“Every community in Clay County has a lot of exciting projects going on right now”, says North Kansas City Mayor Bryant DeLong.
The most notable topic of conversation was Google’s recently announced billion-dollar data center that will be built near Worlds of Fun. Officials from Google say they will also bring its Skilled Trades and Readiness (STAR) program to the area. They are also working with the Urban League and Missouri Works Initiative to increase entry-level positions in this field.
This is in addition to Meta’s (Facebook) $800 million data center that is currently under construction at the intersection of KC’s Interstate 435 and Highway 169. These two projects alone have put Clay County at the forefront of this exploding industry.
Another hot topic was the 533 acres of prime Clay County land recently listed for sale at the intersection of Interstate 435 and 152 Highway in Kansas City. In total, there are 18 tracts ranging from 1.42 acres to 84.3 acres in size. The property will be mixed-use, including Class-A office space, multifamily complexes, hotels, shopping centers, restaurants and exciting entertainment features.
The Clay County EDC describes a possible future development at the site as a mix of Johnson County’s Corporate Woods and Wyandotte County’s The Legends. Mix in top quality sports facilities, a river walk and upscale hotels all linked with parks, streetscapes and pedestrian-friendly designs and the final product will represent billions of dollars in investment and provide a destination location unique to the region.
