KC Area Development Council touts its 2016 achievements at annual meeting

The Kansas City Area Development Council said Friday that 4,000 new jobs and $144 million worth of new payroll came into the region in 2016.

The KCADC added that the Kansas City region also attracted $180 million in capital investment and 2.3 million square feet of real estate occupied space over the year.

Those announcements came during the organization’s annual meeting before 1,620 attendees at the Kansas City Convention Center, a record attendance for the KCADC.

The KCADC is a 40-year-old firm that promotes economic development in the Kansas City metropolitan statistical area.

The KCADC highlighted two companies that came to the region in 2016: Amazon and Virgin Mobile USA.

Amazon’s decision to locate another fulfillment center in Kansas City, Kan., came the same year it announced another one in Edgerton. The company was applauded for coordinating with social services organization to find workers for both warehouses. They are expected to create a combined 2,000 jobs or more.

Virgin Mobile USA, a prepaid wireless company, was held out as a company that could have located its headquarters in several different cities but eventually picked downtown Kansas City. Its 50 employees currently work at One Kansas City Place at 12th and Main streets.

The KCADC meeting featured a discussion by economic development and geography gurus Richard Florida and Joel Kotkin.

Both were largely complimentary of the Kansas City area’s urban and suburban cities. Kotkin, author of “The New Geography” and a researcher who generally touts the benefits of suburban cities, said, “Your real strength is your neighborhoods,” while also encouraging the city to focus on its strengths in agriculture, animal health and industrial development.

They also pointed to Kansas City International Airport as a potential catalyst of the region’s economy.

Kotkin said Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport drives that city’s economy.

Tim Cowden, CEO of the KCADC, moderated the discussion and asked, perhaps somewhat in jest, if both men would help Kansas City untangle its complicated airport situation. But they were noncommittal on that point.

This story was originally published November 4, 2016 at 5:28 PM with the headline "KC Area Development Council touts its 2016 achievements at annual meeting."