Month: November 2014

Public hearing scheduled tonight on issuing industrial revenue bonds

A public hearing is scheduled tonight on $17.2 million in industrial revenue bonds for Associated Wholesale Grocers property at 5000 Kansas Ave. in Kansas City, Kan.

The Unified Government Commission meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Nov. 20 in the Commission Chambers, City Hall, lobby level, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kan.

The commission will consider an ordinance to allow issuing $17.2 million in industrial revenue bonds for AWG’s property, including a newly constructed corporate office tower.

According to UG documents, AWG has consolidated its offices into a newly constructed corporate office tower at the property location.

Previously the commission authorized issuing $6.5 million in IRBS and a payment in lieu of taxes scheduled with an 80 percent tax abatement on the new office tower only. The PILOT also included base tax values for the existing land and improvements.

The Court of Tax Appeals granted the exemption, but only for the new office tower financed with the $6.5 million in IRBs, according to UG documents.

The current PILOT includes the other land and improvements, and that property is also subject to ad valorem taxes, UG documents stated. The current request for $17.2 million in IRBs is enough to finance all AWG property, the documents stated. The PILOT would remain the same, with only the new office tower eligible for the tax abatement.

On the consent agenda for the meeting:

– Two ordinances authorizing the issuance of industrial revenue bonds for PQ Corp.’s expansion at 1700 Kansas Ave. The first is for $22 million and the second, for $34.1 million. Last year the commission adopted a resolution approving the intent to issue $219 million in IRBs and a 75 percent tax abatement, and approved an ordinance to issue $101 million in IRBs for the project.

– Resolutions to authorize improvements and the manner to pay for them in the CMIP budget for 2015 temporary note and bond financing. This includes 14 projects in the 2015 CMIP budget; eight ongoing projects in the 2015 CMIP budget requiring an amendment or additional financing; and reimbursement for five projects the UG expects to make capital improvements and intends to reimburse itself.

– A resolution approving General Motors performance agreement regarding a paint shop addition at the Fairfax Assembly Plant. There is a 50 percent payment in lieu of taxes for the $80 million expansion. If automotive suppliers to the plant locate in Wyandotte County, there may be an additional 5 percent per supplier applied to the PILOT, up to 75 percent maximum.

– An ordinance to authorize UG lawyers to commence legal proceedings to acquire property for the Oak Grove Road, South 53rd to South 55th Street project.

– A plat submitted of KCK PACES, 59th and Nogard.

Also on the agenda:

– Appointments by the mayor to the 47th and Mission Road Area Development and Management Committee of Commissioner Hal Walker, Commissioner Ann Murguia and Heidi Holliday, Rosedale Development Association.

– Several Land Bank properties for yard expansion.

To see the UG Commission agenda, visit www.wycokck.org, and go to “Public Meetings.”

Crash on I-70 causes injury

A crash on I-70 eastbound at the Lewis and Clark bridge in Kansas City, Kan., on Nov. 18 resulted in an injury, according to a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper’s report.

The crash, which happened at 10:20 p.m. Nov. 18, involved a Honda Accord that struck the back of a Lincoln Towncar. The Towncar had come to a stop for an unknown reason, the trooper’s report stated.

The occupants of the Towncar fled the scene of the accident, according to the trooper’s report.

The driver of the Accord, a 40-year-old Kansas City, Kan., man, was injured and taken to a hospital in Kansas City, Mo., according to the trooper’s report.

$10 million donation announced to KU Hospital expansion project

by Dan Margolies, Heartland Health Monitor

The University of Kansas Hospital announced Wednesday afternoon that civic leader Annette Bloch will contribute $10 million toward a $279 million expansion to accommodate the hospital’s fastest-growing specialties.

The 92-bed addition, which was announced earlier this year, will be north of the hospital on the northeast corner of 39th and Cambridge streets in Kansas City, Kan. It will house surgical oncology, neurology, neurosurgery, and ear, nose and throat services.

Bloch structured the donation in the form of a challenge grant that must be matched by June 2016.

At a news conference Wednesday, KU Hospital President and CEO Bob Page said the hospital already had raised $1.37 million toward the match and $34 million altogether, including the $10 million grant. The grant will go toward construction and technology for the surgical oncology unit.

Speaking via video, Bloch said she “hopes and expects the community to step up and support this important issue.”

“There’s a wonderful feeling of power when you’re able to give, and to give something that you know will help so many people and save lives,” she said. “And in your lifetime, if you can even save one life, it’s a wonderful thing to be able to do.”

Bloch, the widow of H&R Block co-founder Richard Bloch, donated $20 million to the hospital in 2008. In 1980, she and her late husband founded the R.A. Bloch Cancer Foundation, which provides free information and assistance to people diagnosed with cancer.

The hospital kicked off its fundraising campaign for the building addition in February. Burns and McDonnell chairman and CEO Greg Graves and his wife, Deanna, pledged $1 million and the Burns and McDonnell Foundation pledged $2.5 million.

The fundraising campaign coincides with another ambitious project by the KU Medical Center to raise $75 million for the construction of a new medical education building. In May, the Hall Family Foundation announced a $25 million donation, giving the medical center most of the money it needed for the project.

KU Hospital and KU Medical Center are separate institutions, each with its own organizational structure. The hospital receives no tax dollars from the state. The medical center, which graduates doctors, nurses and other health professionals and trains medical residents, does receive tax appropriations from the state.

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