Ingram's June 2026

IN THE NEWS

Tidbits of Business News from Around the Region

MISSOURI BUCHANAN COUNTY Homelessness Battle

Riverfront Boost Kansas City leaders are considering up to $235 million in public support for a proposed CPKC Stadium expansion and riverfront district buildout, with total investment described at roughly $1.4 billion. The plan would enlarge the KC Current’s stadium from 11,500 to about 18,000 seats, add parking, retail, trails and infrastructure, and build on Current Landing and the new riverfront streetcar connection. The proposal reinforces Berkley Riverfront’s emergence as a sports-and-entertainment growth node. Correspondent News Updates from the Capital cities Washington | Fed Holds Course on Rates

Streetcar Spur Opens

Kansas City’s $62 million Riverfront streetcar extension opened in May, linking the River Market to Berkley Riverfront and extending the full streetcar route to more than six miles from UMKC and the Plaza to the riverfront. Officials tied the opening to more than $1 billion in riverfront investment since 2019, making the line less a transit add-on than a devel opment spine connecting Downtown, tourism assets, residential growth and the KC Current district.

The St. Joseph City Council is consid ering a measure that would criminalize “homeless dumping”–the practice of outside, organized groups dropping homeless indi viduals off in the city and leaving them without resources. The measure, still under discussion, proposes that any individual or municipality outside of St. Joseph could be charged with a criminal misdemeanor for attempting to relocate unhoused or transient individuals to the city. It would provide exceptions only where medical treatment or legal proceedings are involved. North Kansas City has approved a development agreement with One North Development for Fresh Market of Northtown, a full-service grocery store planned on about seven acres of city owned land near the I-29/35 and Armour Road/M-210 interchange. The city will sell the site for $1, with construction required to begin within 180 days of closing and the store expected to open in 2027. City offi cials frame the $218 million project, with this long-sought grocery-access win, as a catalyst for additional private investment. JACKSON COUNTY FNBO Adds Blue Ridge Bank A year after snapping up Country Club Bank, FNBO has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Blue Ridge Bank & Trust, based in Independence. Regulatory approval is anticipated before the end of the year, and the deal would cover both the holding company, Blue Ridge Bancshares, as well as the bank. Blue Ridge Bank has eight branches, all located in Jackson County, and is one of the largest independently owned community banks in Missouri, with approximately $850 million in assets. That brings more than $3 billion in market assets FNBO has added since the Country Club deal. CLAY COUNTY One North Advances

The Federal Open Market Committee’s June meeting produced a unanimous vote among board members to keep interest rates where they are for now. The Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.5 to 3.75 percent, and reaffirmed its policy of maintaining ample reserves in the banking system. Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace despite elevated uncertainty, which is due in part to the conflict in the Middle East. Productivity growth and capital investment are strong. Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little. Inflation, however, remains elevated relative to the committee’s 2 percent goal, in part reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy. Jefferson City | August Vote on Income-Tax Phase-Out Gov. Mike Kehoe has set a public vote for the Aug. 4 primary, which will show up on ballots as Amendment 5, to seek approval for his goal to eliminate Missouri’s state income tax. Before its adjournment last month, the General Assembly passed a constitutional amendment advancing his top legislative priority: phasing out the state’s individual income tax. The measure grants lawmakers authority to expand sales and use taxes over five years, tying income-tax reductions to revenue growth from those increases, while including protections for public-school funding and mandated property tax offsets. Because it’s a constitutional amendment, it requires voter ratification rather than Kehoe’s signature, and the August timing would give lawmakers extra time to prepare implementing legislation if voters approve the tax-code overhaul. Topeka | Lawmakers Pave Way for Chiefs Move Kansas lawmakers ended the 2026 session with multiple business-related boxes checked, including economic development efforts for the Kansas City Chiefs stadium relocation, enacting the Kansas Sports Facilities Authority Act and revisions to STAR Bonds that exempt facility construction from property and sales taxes while tightening bond-repayment rules and eliminating local eminent domain authority for such projects. Lawmakers also positioned the state for FIFA World Cup-related commerce by authorizing extended alcohol sales hours and streamlining short-term rental tax collection during the tournament, as well as emergency-proclamation authority for major events. And they also extended sunsets for angel investor and aerospace industry tax credits and expanded child-care expenditure credits for employers.

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Kansas City’s Business Media

June 2026