Port Authority lands big federal grant for major KC project along Missouri River
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the Port Authority of Kansas City a nearly $10 million grant for a significant project aimed at transforming a former dump site into an inland port.
The $9.88 million will help finance the redevelopment of a 415-acre site along the Missouri River that the AK Steel Corporation used as a landfill. In 2018, the Port Authority, or Port KC, bought the site along the river east of Interstate 435 with the goal of developing what it’s calling the Missouri River Terminal.
The idea is to construct a multimodal freight transfer facility, which is to say a project that would serve businesses carrying freight by rail, water or highway. The overall project is expected to represent in excess of $200 million in investment.
“Kansas City’s central location is one of its greatest competitive advantages,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, in a statement. “The Missouri River Terminal project capitalizes on the city’s position as a hub for the nation’s railways, highways and waterways to support continued growth in the region. This critical grant funding will also help leverage additional private-sector investment that will fuel economic development and job creation.”
Blunt in May wrote a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao supporting Port KC’s grant application, saying the Missouri River Terminal project was developed from a 2015 study that showed the freight market in the Kansas City region would double by 2040.
“This grant is a real signal that Port KC’s commitment and vision to reclaim and revitalize the Blue River Industrial Corridor is important,” said Port KC chairman Phil Glynn in a statement. “We now can move forward with building the critical infrastructure needed to develop a freight and transportation hub.”
The grant, as well as the larger Missouri River Terminal project, is a boost for Port KC, a once-obscure state agency that was once largely responsible for collecting rent from the Isle of Capri casino but has become a bigger organization involved in economic development projects across Kansas City.
Port KC has shepherded development of other industrial sites in Kansas City, including the former Richard Gebaur Air Force Base in southeast Kansas City, as well as the former Bannister Federal Complex where NorthPoint Development has a contract to develop distribution warehouses.
