Reality Check dispatch: KC firm threatened over deal with ICE for warehouse
Editor’s note: The following is from this week’s Reality Check newsletter, published weekly on Wednesdays. You can sign up here to get them delivered to your inbox.
Hi Star readers,
After reports surfaced that the federal government is eyeing a south KC warehouse for an alleged mega ICE detention facility, the building’s owners could be excluded from future sales in the area.
Previous reports, confirmed by KC officials, have indicated that federal agents visited a large warehouse tied to KC-based Platform Ventures at 14901 Botts Rd. earlier this month. And, Jackson County Legislative Chair Manny Abarca said that agents told him on-site that ICE and DHS are planning to build a detention facility with a capacity for about 7,500 beds there.
Port KC, which helps carry out big development projects in Kansas City by offering financial incentive plans, has worked with local firm Platform Ventures to build out a large industrial park — called 49 Crossing — on the city’s far south side, including giving $80 million in bonds to help build the warehouse on Botts Road.
Last week, Platform Ventures confirmed that it received an offer to buy the warehouse earlier this fall but did not disclose who made the offer. County records do not show that a sale has been finalized yet.
And while Port KC says it no longer has control over that specific property, it has been in talks with Platform Ventures about developing more land nearby.
Now, the agency might end that deal and its nearly 10-year relationship with Platform Ventures to signal its disapproval of the potential ICE facility. Will the threats work to keep the local company from working with ICE?
If you have a question about your local government or a tip about what else we should look into, please email iarougheti@kcstar.com.
Elsewhere in the metro...
✅ A 19-foot-deep ditch is causing traffic jams outside the Westport Sun Fresh. What’s up with the football-field-sized hole in the parking lot?
✅ After Alex Pretti’s killing at the hands of ICE, some Kansas and Missouri GOP lawmakers are blaming his gun. The responses appear to contradict decades of Republican messaging.
✅ Kansas City is facing backlash over its hire of KCFD’s new fire chief. The Florida man inherited a department in turmoil.
✅ Jackson County is considering a new rule that would ban ICE agents from covering their faces with masks. But, residents at a lively town hall say they just want them gone.
✅ New details reveal how a night at a popular KU bar led to a fatal shooting earlier this month — including how teens snuck in, got into a fight with staff, and why two of them pulled guns.
Looking for more?
- Sign up for more of The Star’s free newsletters for a daily roundup of our top headlines.
- Find all of our Reality Check stories here.
- Need more community news in your life? You can subscribe to email newsletters for Johnson County, Olathe, Lee’s Summit and Wyandotte County.
- Support our local journalists with a subscription.
