KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s the biggest economic development project in Missouri history. On Wednesday Cerner breaks ground on its new campus at the old Bannister Mall site in south Kansas City.
Cerner is making a $4.45 billion investment with its ‘Trails Campus Project.’ It’s expected to create up to 16,000 jobs over the next 10 years.
The Kansas City Missouri City Council approved more than a billion dollars in tax incentives for the development this summer.
The company says the incentives are necessary for its development to move forward. The office site will take up 237 acres of what is now mostly vacant land at the former Bannister Mall Site. It’s a stroke of fortune for the area. Since the mall closed in 2007, the site has been an eye sore.
Several projects of fallen through. The mostly empty lot served as an ugly reminder that Kansas City businesses have gone elsewhere.
Until Cerner came along. Its first office tower is expected to open in 2016.
