hile the big cities of Kansas City and St. Louis continue to hold their own, some smaller Missouri communities are exerting their own corporate pull. All of them are helped by recent numbers, programs and deal brokering.
        A report released in December 2003 showed that the state had gained 18,000 net jobs for the year. Many have been dismayed as job losses mounted between March 2001 and May 2003, totaling some 93,000 – the state was the 19th-hardest-hit in the manufacturing sector during that period. But the corporate countenance might brighten when the state points out that 11,000 of those lost jobs were in the government sector, 3,000 of them at the state level.
        The worker's comp numbers are getting better too. The National Council on Compensation Insurers is advising companies that average claim and adjustment costs for workers compensation coverage statewide will drop from $2 to $1.97 for every $100 of payroll in 2004. With its projection of a reduction to $1.78, the Missouri Dept. of Insurance says companies could reduce rates up to 11.1 percent and still cover expenses and reasonable profit. However, final rates depend on the administrative expenses and profit margins added by insurers.
        Missouri's brownfield redevelopment program is making headway as the backbone of some major downtown projects. And Gov. Bob Holden gets at least some of the credit for helping to retain corporate presences from the likes of Ford Motor Co. in both the St. Louis and Kansas City metros, and American Airlines at Kansas City International Airport. All told, those three negotiations yielded the saving of 9,800 jobs.

Like Some BBQ With That HQ?

The prominence of Kansas City as a regional or national headquarters hot spot was re-asserted in two recent announcements that involved taxation as their core business, not a business obstacle.
        First came the public sector: The Internal Revenue Service, in a consolidation move, decided to become the anchor tenant in a $370-million redevelopment of the city's main post office.
        The primary developer of that project, DST Realty, was also an early player in the yearlong fight to land homegrown firm H&R Block's new headquarters. The intrigue involved both Kansas and Missouri state officials, as potential metro sites on both sides of the state line vied for the prize. Kansas City, Mo., offered eight different sites for consideration. During the final phase of the selection process, a greenfield site in Overland Park, Kan., surged into contention. But in the end, the company literally chose to stay on Main Street in K.C., where it was founded in 1947. Development of the entire surrounding South Loop (SOLO) district was an important part of the choice, with company leaders conferring with master site developer Cordish Co. on the direction of the overall project.
        H&R Block Chairman and CEO Mark A. Ernst said H&R Block associates had a strong voice in the search process. The selected site addresses the needs associates said were among the most important, including bringing scattered associates (1,200 of them) together in one location, creating more efficient work space, providing enhanced amenities and convenient and safe parking, and remaining a visible and integral part of the community.
        "What's best for our associates is also best for our business. In consolidating from several separate locations to one headquarters, we will increase efficiency, interaction and productivity," said Ernst, who at the same time noted that the choice was not the lowest-cost alternative offered. While one service center in the metro area will remain in separate operation, Ernst has said that other functions spread among the company's nationwide portfolio may be examined in the future for consolidation at the new HQ. In addition, a phase II, 250,000-sq.-ft. (23,225-sq.-m.) world headquarters expansion is tentatively planned for the SOLO site in 2013.
        The initial phase's total investment will be $120 million. Total investment in the entertainment district as a whole is expected to reach $305 million, says Missy Wilson, director of downtown development with the Economic Development Corp. of Kansas City, Missouri. Public-sector funding, in the form of tax incentives and revenue bonds, is expected to total $150 million. The overall project will be executed by the Cordish, renowned for its remaking of the Baltimore waterfront, as well as similar redevelopment projects in cities like Louisville, Ky., and Richmond, Va.
        Wilson points out that the service center left alone by the consolidation has been part of a redevelopment all its own. For one thing, it's only been in operation less than seven years, and its efficiency is lauded. But there's more.
        "That location and the facility they're keeping is critical to the community and neighborhood it's in," Wilson says of the east side center. "H&R Block was willing to commit dollars to an urban area and hire locally, and they did not want to remove that facility from that area. They were pioneers who started investment along the Swope Parkway/Brush Creek corridor area."
        Redevelopment is also the theme for sports architecture firm HOK Sport+Venue+Event, which is establishing a new $22-million, 93,000-sq.-ft. (8,640-sq.-m.) headquarters in the city's River Market area. It's the same area that recently saw railroad Kansas City Southern sell off eight acres (3.2 hectares), opening up new vistas for both redevelopment and peace and quiet.