Local developer’s ties to ICE upend Port KC vote on tax breaks for apartments

A local developer’s reported connection to a proposed federal immigration detention center upended a Port KC vote this week.

The Port Authority board’s development committee discussed Flint Residential’s proposal to build new apartments on a vacant lot at 46th and Walnut streets, near the art museums and the Country Club Plaza.

Flint Residential is tied to Flint Development, a firm based in Prairie Village that has regional and national reach. The proposed development would include 151 new units in a mix of one-, two- and three-bedrooms alongside four townhomes.

The agenda item was standard for Port KC: offering tax breaks to a developer to build new housing that would fill a vacant lot in a core neighborhood near the streetcar line. Construction could begin this year.

With the full board’s final approval, Port KC could offer partial property tax exemptions worth $7.4 million over 20 years, while the property would generate $5.6 million during that time.

Without development, the property would be expected to only generate about $1 million over 20 years, according to Port KC data. The developer would also pay $755,000 into the city’s fund for affordable housing grants.

The development committee was expected to vote on recommending the plan to Port KC’s full board, which would then vote to advance the incentive plan at a later date.

ICE detention center sale in Texas upends Port KC vote

But a representative for Kansas City Public Schools — which regularly expresses concerns about development incentives and their impact on district tax revenue — read a news headline that shifted the committee’s discussion.

Raising “some questions around this developer’s other activities within the last year,” consultant Kathleen Pointer quoted a KCUR story headline that reads: “Prairie Village developer linked to sale of Texas warehouses for ICE detention facility.”

KCUR’s story, from February, referenced reports that Flint Development sold property near El Paso, Texas to be used for an 8,500-bed Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. The Star also had a column on the reported Flint Development connection, which first surfaced in local El Paso media.

The office for the county attorney in El Paso, Texas told county officials there in March that the potential ICE detention site was sold by El Paso Logistics II, LLC to the Department of Homeland Security in January for $123 million.

El Paso Logistics II was owned by Flint Development, per a 2024 deed of trust, and the transaction had other ties to Flint and its founders, according to the El Paso county attorney.

‘Two sides to every story’

But at the Port KC committee meeting on Monday, a Flint official — who appeared and was reported to be John McGurk, residential development partner — emphasized to the committee that the company’s residential business is a separate entity.

He said his understanding is that “a third-party LLC” put a building under contract and “when that was disclosed,” Flint was contractually obligated to close. The federal government then “took assignment” in the sale.

But he noted that Flint did not sell property in Oklahoma City after the federal government asked for more time. Local media reported in January that Flint was no longer engaging with the government on property there after days of resident outcry.

“There’s two sides of every story,” he said. “I think it’s an unfortunate situation for everybody, but I’m here to discuss this project. This is what I know … It’s what I’m a part of.”

Flint Development did not return a phone call or an email for comment from The Star.

The development committee was about to vote on recommending the 46th and Walnut plan to the full Port KC board.

But after Pointer’s comment, the committee voted to instead advance the plan to the full board with a neutral stance. The full Port KC Board of Commissioners will have the final say.

Port KC development committee member Jack Steadman said he was otherwise a “firm yes” on the project, which he called a good one with reasonable numbers.

But “the sale of the detention center is throwing me off,” he said. Committee members said they wanted more information from Flint and Port KC staff about the situation, which conjures up controversy Port KC faced earlier this year over another proposed ICE detention facility in the Kansas City area.

Port KC previously faced controversy over proposed ICE facility

The agency previously worked with Platform Ventures, another local developer, to support building an empty warehouse in south Kansas City on the site of a former Air Force base to attract industrial-type jobs.

But it emerged in January that the federal government eyed purchasing the warehouse to turn into an ICE detention facility, sparking weeks of protest and uproar against the proposal.

The Port KC board signaled its disapproval in February by formally cutting ties with Platform Ventures after the agency learned Platform intended to sell the facility to ICE.

Platform Ventures said at the time that negotiations were complete after the firm received an “unsolicited offer” in October 2025.

Port KC emphasized at the time that the warehouse was not the agency’s to sell and that it had limited ability to block a sale under the structure of its agreement with Platform Ventures.

Platform Ventures ultimately announced in February that it was not moving ahead with selling the warehouse to the government.

Meanwhile, Flint Development faced protests in Prairie Village over its reported ties to the Texas site, the Johnson County Post reported in March.