KANSAS CITY, Mo. — City and state leaders are celebrating the Cerner Corporation’s plans to build a $4.3-billion office campus on the site of the former Bannister Mall. This investment is expected to transform the region.
Fifteen thousand people are expected to work for Cerner in south Kansas City when the company is finished building a 4.5-million square foot campus on the old mall site. The massive office development will take ten years to complete, taking up 237 acres of what is now mostly vacant land. When finished in 2024 the Cerner campus would the largest office site in the metro area, largest in Missouri, bigger than even Sprint’s campus in Overland Park, Kan.
“Folks to say this project is a big deal, is an understatement. This project is transformative,” said Gov. Jay Nixon, D-Missouri. “And a defining moment in the economy of this region and our state. Because behind each new job will be a new family buying a new home, creating new memories and putting down roots here in Kansas City.”
The state and Kansas City city council granted the health care technology company more than $1.5-billion in tax incentives over 33 years to make the project happen.
“They’re taking 230-some odd acres of ugly and going to turn it into 230-some odd acres of pretty. That’ s not a bad thing under any set of circumstances, said Kansas City, Mo. Mayor Sly James.
Cerner has purchased all the property it needs for the campus. The land alone has been estimated to cost more than $44-million.
Construction is expected to begin later this year. The first phase includes two office buildings and a service center.
Cerner has told the city that 2,260 jobs will be created in the first phase alone.
The company is also continuing its development in Wyandotte County near Kansas Speedway.
The company currently employs about 9,000 people in the metro area.
Bannister Mall was once one of the largest malls in the Kansas City area, featuring 180 stores, and providing employment for hundreds of residents in its peak years. After several decades of decline, the mall became blighted, eventually closing its doors in 2007. The mall was demolished in 2009.