< Previousby GARY DAUGHTERS gary.daughters@siteselection.com Kansas STATE SPOTLIGHT 118 NOVEMBER 2024 SITE SELECTION K ansas City likes to think of its newly renovated international airport (MCI) as a welcoming handshake to the world and a driver of renewed prosperity throughout the bi-state Kansas City region. Built at a cost of $. billion — with an expansion from gates to and additional room to grow — it is the biggest infrastructure project in the Missouri city’s history. Since its opening in early , the sparkling new facility already is paying dividends, multiple public and private offi cials told Site Selection. “It is the front door to the community,” says Kansas City Director of Aviation Melissa Cooper. “Both the new terminal and the airport are catalysts for economic development.” Infrastructure buildouts are attracting big investments. New Doors Open to N S C Y The new Kansas City International Airport (MCI) serves a bi-state population base of 2.2 million and a growing employer base as well. Image courtesy of Kansas City Aviation Dept.122 NOVEMBER 2024 SITE SELECTION Photo courtesy of Kansas City Aviation Department BY THE NUMBERS KANSAS Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 883,795 Number of NCRCs: 98,937 | Percent Improved 2022–23: 16.92% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2023–2024: -1 Industrial power cost per kWh: $8.30 Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2007-21: 102.4% 2023 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 1.02 Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT $M EMP Shield Burlington 1,900 Integra Technologies Wichita 1,800 Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. Tonganoxie 450 General Motors Co. Kansas City 391 G-I Holdings Newton 300 Source: Conway Projects Database Wait, hold on a second: Why are we talking about a Missouri airport in a story about Kansas? Because the integrated single terminal is a symbol of an integrated regional economy. at integration also can be seen in the airport’s most recent annual report, where a demographic table shows fast-growing Johnson County’s population of nearly , helping the Kansas side account for more than % of the total metro area’s population of . million. is new “front door,” Cooper tells Site Selection, makes a strong impression on those fl ying in. And well it should. An intricate sculpture that mimics the fl ow of water anchors the new space, made bright by fl oor-to-ceiling glass walls, high-level “clerestory” windows and skylights. Natural wood ceilings deliver a comforting, natural touch. e new layout includes multiple barbeque eateries and an in-house smoker among some , sq. ft. of retail and restaurants, both local and national. Meditation room? Check. “Our team designed and built the terminal with the customer in mind, and the customer input we’re getting validates that eff ort,” says Cooper. In the most recent North American Airport Satisfaction Study, MCI ranked number three in overall customer satisfaction. “I do think it’s been a strong economic development tool,” says Daniel B. Jensen, Principal, Industrial Brokerage of Kessinger Hunter, Kansas City’s oldest commercial real estate fi rm. Like its region’s airport, the fi rm too is headquartered in Missouri but takes a keen interest in the state a stone’s throw away: e company’s national portfolio features developed or managed properties on the Missouri side and on the Kansas side. Potential investors, Jensen believes, like what they see of the city’s new front door. “ e fact of the matter,” Jensen tells Site Selection, “is these folks that are looking at spending billions of dollars and they like fl ying into the new setting. A new, modern airport like ours says something about the SITE SELECTION NOVEMBER 2024 123 community, that they can handle it. So, they can also handle projects and industry.” Panasonic Is Proving to be a Boon As the new terminal was nearing completion, Panasonic made worldwide news when it selected suburban Kansas City for a $4 billion lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility, the largest economic development project in Kansas history. The plant is bringing some 4,000 direct jobs to the region. It is expected to open next spring at the 9,000-acre Astra Enterprise Park in De Soto. In March, Gov. Laura Kelly announced the biggest investment so far from what is expected to be a cluster of Panasonic suppliers. H&T Recharge, one of the world’s biggest battery component manufacturers, is investing $110 million and creating 180 jobs as Panasonic’s strategic supplier for cylindrical battery cans. Germany-based H&T is to co-locate with Panasonic on its 300-acre campus. “We’re excited about the work being done to bring electric vehicle battery suppliers to our area,” said De Soto Mayor Rick Walker in a statement. “We’re looking forward to seeing more of this in the future.” Kessinger Hunter has played a major role in bringing Astra Enterprise Park to fruition as a potential magnet for industrial investment. At 14 square miles, the park is larger than De Soto and even larger Kansas cities such as Emporia and Junction City. The massive 124 NOVEMBER 2024 SITE SELECTION project has required more than a decade of remediation, owing to its previous role as a World War II munitions plant. “It was ironic as heck,” observes Jensen, “that we’re standing out there at the ribbon cutting for Panasonic — a Japanese company that is bringing to fruition a wonderful new manufacturing facility in the modern era — at a site that used to make munitions that were being sent over to fi ght them.” Logistics Industry Prospers With four decades in commercial real estate in Kansas City, Jensen also has seen the cross-border region evolve into a consequential logistics hub. Time was, he recalls, that the Kansas City metro — despite an auspicious, central location — consistently lost out to Dallas and Chicago for big box warehouses serving the Midwest, due in large part, he says, to a lack of industrial product. at began to change, he says, after Kessinger Hunter took the plunge on a -acre spec project in , whose success had the eff ect of drawing in national developers such as Northpoint and Van Trust. “Kansas City,” he says, “used to be a pretty strong secondary distribution marketplace. is is my opinion, but it has since become a small, primary distribution marketplace. We have an industrial base of million square feet that’s grown by about million square feet in years.” In August, Kansas City’s Logistics Center, a -acre industrial park in Kansas City, Kansas, developed by Indianapolis-based Scannell Properties, attracted a $ million investment by toolmaker and supplier MARSHALLTOWN, which recently broke ground on a ,-sq.-ft. distribution center that’s expected to create new jobs. MARSHALLTOWN COO Jack Murders tells Site Selection that the Kansas City location serves as a strategic midpoint between the company’s headquarters in Marshalltown, Iowa, and its manufacturing and distribution facilities in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Beyond that, Murders cites personal relationships he established with offi cials at Scannell, and most importantly, he says, with Elli Bowen, vice president of business development for KC SmartPort, the economic development group for the logistics industry in the KC metro. “Getting in touch with Elli,” Murders says, “was the single best thing that we did in this search. She made it happen as well as I’ve ever seen anybody execute an initiative. ere are very few people I have enjoyed working with more. Elli is top notch.” A new, modern airport like ours says something about the community, that they can handle it. So, they can also handle projects and industry.” — Daniel B. Jensen , Principal Industrial Brokerage, Kessinger Hunter A new, modern airport like A Winning Tax Climate, And Expansions in Laramie F or the fi fth time in as many years, Wyoming ranks fi rst in the nation in the Tax Foundation’s annual State Business Tax Climate Index (one of the factors in the Business Climate Rankings found elsewhere in this issue). e Index is based on variables associated with fi ve tax categories — individual income, sales, corporate income, property and unemployment insurance. e fact that Wyoming has no corporate or individual income tax assured it a fi rst-place fi nish in those categories. “ ese studies confi rm what we’ve long known in Wyoming; this is a pro- business state with a low cost of doing business, direct access to the governor and legislators, and a low regulatory burden,” said Shawn Reese, CEO of the Wyoming Business Council, in a statement. Wyoming also has no inventory, occupation, franchise or value-added taxes. e Cowboy State takes supporting businesses seriously. In February , indoor agriculture company Plenty Unlimited, a homegrown company, was awarded a $ million grant from the state to help expand its vertical farming research center in Laramie. “ e next generation of Plenty’s R&D platform that we’re deploying in Wyoming enables us to develop new crops at a much faster rate and expand the portfolio of plants we can grow in Plenty’s patented vertical growing system,” said Sasha Preuss, vice president of plant science at Plenty, in September. “We just announced our expansion of Plenty farms to the Middle East and the research capabilities we have here in Wyoming make it possible for us to develop additional crops that can be grown in those farms — increasing regional production and food security despite the very diff erent climates. at’s a big advantage to having both research and commercial farm environments that are totally controlled.” e expanded research center is set to open in summer . Also in Laramie, Eagle Materials, which makes construction products and building materials, is investing $ million to expand its cement plant as well as a cement distribution facility in Colorado. e investment aims to increase manufacturing capacity by %. e expansion will become operational in the second half of . by MARK AREND mark.arend@siteselection.com Wyoming STATE SPOTLIGHT BY THE NUMBERS WYOMING Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 140,268 Number of NCRCs: 11,095 | Percent Improved 2022–23: 3.43% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2023–2024: 0 Industrial power cost per kWh: $6.89 Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2007-21: 122.2% 2023 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 1.86 Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT $M Meta Platforms Cheyenne 800 Rare Element Resources Upton 44 Austin Engineering Casper 25 Plenty Unlimited Laramie 20 Bit Origin Cheyenne 7 Source: Conway Projects Database SITE SELECTION NOVEMBER 2024 125 A neighborhood cityscape in Laramie, Wyoming Photo: Getty Images126 NOVEMBER 2024 SITE SELECTION STATE SPOTLIGHT C ompanies such as Amazon, UPS, FedEx and DHL have pioneered how their operations could streamline airborne delivery of everyday goods. In terms of national security, however, there are unexplored new heights to be reached. Helping to reach them is Project ULTRA — unmanned aerial systems (UAS) logistics, traffi c, research and autonomy — which focuses on use of this technology by the Department of Defense (DoD) within the U.S. National Airspace System. Earlier this year the proposed fi ve-year project scored $. million through an Indefi nite Delivery/Indefi nite Quantity contract from the DoD’s Washington Headquarters Services. North Dakota’s Grand Forks County and the GrandSKY business and aviation park at Grand Forks Air Force Base, in collaboration with the likes of NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory, spent four months between May and September conducting UAS simulations to build a safety case for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the DoD. e team is studying the AirSpace Integration Services (ASIS) system, and the ability to create a ubiquitous, democratized airspace that will allow UAS operations to safely fl y and carry cargo through both military and civilian environments. Research focuses on conducting fl ights within FAA-controlled Class Echo Airspace, which currently bans UAS use without authorization. Project ULTRA Director Chris Hewlett hopes to broaden the perspective of ASIS through Project ULTRA, allowing for more opportunities to utilize this technology, by ALEXIS ELMORE alexis.elmore@siteselection.com Dakotas Project ULTRA enters into Task Order 2 at GrandSKY in North Dakota to test UAS fl ight capabilities in the National Airspace System. Rendering courtesy of GrandSKY BY THE NUMBERS NORTH DAKOTA Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 324,078 Number of NCRCs: 6,470 | Percent Improved 2022–23: 22.14% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2023–2024: 0 Industrial power cost per kWh: $7.28 Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2007-21: 124.9% 2023 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 0.58 Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT $M Talon Metals Corp. Mercer Cnty. 433 Green Bison Soy Processing Spiritwood 350 Clark Equipment Co. Gwinner 11 AGT Food and Ingredients Minot 10 North American Bison New Rockford 6 Source: Conway Projects Database SITE SELECTION NOVEMBER 2024 127 push boundaries in traffi c management and improve national security. “We demonstrated the capacity,” Hewlett says. “We created an environment that allowed people to look at the federal UAS service suppliers that NASA and the FRL have been working on to see if they would be applicable to this logistics mission. All of those things were accomplished in Task Order .” A Skyways V. drone was identifi ed as the UAS the team will begin using for simulation and data gathering as they move on to the $. million Task Order , which will take place until September . On wheels, the -mile round trip through the remote and rural region between Grand Forks Air Base and the Cavalier Space Force Station would take an average of three hours without stopping. Hewlett states that by UAS, accounting for cargo drop-off , a round trip can take place in one hour. “ is is very demonstrative of what we want to do for the U.S. military,” he continues, “which is create access through air corridors and airspace utilization with these new technologies to improve the lives of the sailors, soldiers, airmen, marines and guardians that are taking care of our country.” e specifi ed fl ight path fl ows from military to civilian airspace, using GrandSKY’s beyond-visual- line-of-sight Ground-Based Sense and Avoid system to ensure real-time airspace awareness and safety. Information accrued over this period will be vital to receiving fl ight authorization and waiver approvals from the FAA to begin actual fl ights by June . “We’re at a critical juncture now, where I think people have spent a tremendous amount of time, eff ort and money on research and development,” says Hewlett. “ e diff erence, and key point, in Project ULTRA is operationalization. e government is looking for an opportunity to grab hold of these technologies and capabilities, building core competencies to scale and implement it in places not just in the U.S., but outside of the continental U.S. also.” e Project ULTRA team in later research stages plans to integrate smaller UAS technologies on military bases. If approved, that step will allow for constructing normal fl ight operations to improve the lives of personnel and families stationed on-site. For Hewlett, North Dakota provides the ideal conditions for Project ULTRA to succeed. He calls the state a “unicorn” in terms of support. County and state leadership, military offi cials and government agencies like NASA and the FAA have created the ecosystem of collaboration needed to make this work. “I can’t stress enough how much of an unbelievable ecosystem of opportunity there is to be able to do things like that, and it just happens to be here in Grand Forks, North Dakota,” says Hewlett. “It is probably one of the nicest places to do business, especially in this industry.” South Dakota In South Dakota, one company looks to ensure moving earth is made easy. To celebrate years of developing and manufacturing rough-terrain handling, access platforms and earthmoving equipment for agriculture, construction and various industrial markets, Manitou Group is introducing new capabilities to its site in Yankton. In September, the company announced a ,-sq.-ft. expansion to the existing ,-sq.- ft. telehandler and articulated loaders facility. With a $ million investment Manitou plans to incorporate a new automated moving assembly line and laser-cutting machines. “ e expansion of our Yankton site, which is now years old, strengthens our group’s historic presence in the United States,” said Manitou Group Vice President of Compact and Articulated Loaders Product Unit Alexandre Caharel. “ is is an important growth lever in a particularly dynamic market.” News of the Yankton expansion comes just one year after the company introduced an ,-sq.- ft. expansion to its ,-sq.-ft. skid loaders manufacturing plant, miles north in Madison. ese investments will help Manitou increase output from its South Dakota production facilities by % within the next two years. “ is new industrial site will enable us to keep pace with this strong demand,” said Caharel of the Yankton investment, “while delivering ever greater added value to our customers.” BY THE NUMBERS SOUTH DAKOTA Higher Ed. R&D Expenditure in $000s: 118,097 Number of NCRCs: 59,008 | Percent Improved 2022–23: 14.21% Business Tax Climate Rank Change 2023–2024: 0 Industrial power cost per kWh: $8.04 Total Rev. as Share of Total Expenses, FY 2007-21: 106.5% 2023 Workers’ Comp Index Rate: 1.30 Selected Top Projects by Capital Investment COMPANY CITY INVESTMENT $M High Plains Processing / BP Products North America Mitchell 500 3M Co. Brookings 468 Riverview, LLP Kingsbury Cnty. 190 Redstone Dairy Esmond 182 Sonstegard Foods Co. Chancellor 94 Source: Conway Projects DatabaseNext >