Ingram's October 2022

I N T H E N E W S

Tidbits of Business News from Around the Region

MISSOURI BUCHANAN COUNTY High Training Demand

KANSAS ATCHISON COUNTY Benedictine Med Expansion Economic development officials have requested funding for a study to deter mine the feasibility of a medical-school presence at Benedictine College. The college plans to lease space to an inde pendent, separately governed medical educator, creating an estimated economic impact of $80 million a year and 100 jobs.

leverage access to public transit with the adjacent park and ride/bus stop. Project costs top out at $90 million and include a garage with 377 parking spaces, plus additional public and street parking. TranSystems Goes Big TranSystems, the Kansas City engi neering and design firm, continues its growth-by-acquisition strategy by snapping up a Raleigh, N.C., firm with 330 employees. It closed on the acquisi tion of Sepi in late September, the third such deal since 2020. The estimated $40 million in annual billings at Sepi will bolster TranSystem’s 2021 revenues of more than $250 million and will bring overall employment to more than 1,325. Correspondent News Updates from the Capital cities

With enrollment demand well above capacity, the St. Joseph school district will break ground this fall on a 22,000-square foot expansion of its Hillyard Technical Center, which trains students in the skilled trades. More than 470 high-school students applied for courses at the center this school year, well above the capacity of 362, creating a waiting list of 110. The $5 million expansion project will double the size of the center’s welding program when the project is completed in January 2024. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City has stepped in to claim 260,000 square feet of Downtown office space that unexpectedly opened up after the acquisition of Waddell & Reed, which had planned to make the new 1400KC its headquarters. That distinction will go to Blue KC, which will lease all 18 floors of the building at 1400 Baltimore Ave. The new headquarters will house most of Blue KC’s 1,400 area employees. That 15-year lease commitment will free up 240,000 square feet Blue KC currently leases at 2301 Main and 2300 Main St. Current Groundbreaking Owners of the Kansas City Current broke ground Oct. 6 on a new riverfront stadium, hailed as the nation’s first to be designed specifically for a women’s professional soccer team. The $117 million stadium, with seating for 11,500, is expected to open by the 2024 regular season. Waldo Density Push EPC Real Estate Group has filed plans for Waldo 74 Broadway, a mixed-use project with 289 units over the top of a restaurant and retail space at 74th and Broadway. Covering nearly a full block now occupied by a restaurant and car wash, the project proposes either five or six stories of new construction that would JACKSON COUNTY New Home for Blue KC

JOHNSON COUNTY The Rx Boom

Texas-based McKesson Corp., one of the nation’s biggest health-care com-

Washington | Lawsuit Challenges School-Debt Relief The Pacific Legal Foundation has filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education to block the Biden administration’s plans to cancel more than $500 billion in student loan debt, calling the proposal “flagrantly illegal.” President Biden, in August, called for canceling up to $20,000 in student loan debt each for more than 40 million Americans. “Cancelling student debt is unjust to those who have paid their loans or never took any. It will only lead to more calls for government intervention in education at taxpayers’ expense,” said Steve Simpson, senior attorney for the foundation. Jefferson City | House Opts for Individual Tax Cuts The Missouri House of Representatives has approved cutting the top state income tax rate from 5.3 percent to 4.95 percent, starting next year, with the potential for a reduction to 4.5 percent if state revenues continue to grow. The House embraced that plan, rather than a call for a reduction in business taxes, sending it to Gov. Mike Parson for his signature. Parson had originally called for a cut to 4.8 percent for individual taxpayers. Opposition came from Democrats in both the House and Senate, as well as the Missouri Budget Project, a non profit organization that said the cuts would disproportionately benefit wealthier residents. Topeka | Taiwan Makes Major Grain Buy Taiwan has given Kansas farmers a boost with an agreement to buy 66 million bushels of wheat from U.S. farmers by 2025, a deal with a projected value of $576 million for growers, a large portion of which will benefit Kansas farms. The deal was announced after a trade mission hosted by the state’s Departments of Agriculture and Commerce. Since 1998, Taiwan has dispatched a total of 13 agricultural trade missions to the U.S. in an effort to strengthen trade relations. This year’s mission included a visit to Washington, D.C., and select agricultural states, including Kansas, to demonstrate Taiwan’s intention to continue purchas ing quality wheat from the United States.

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Kansas City’s Business Media

October 2022