KC's Downtown Provides a Model for Jacksonville Leadership Group

A decade ago, downtown Kansas City, Mo., was similar to many other large American cities, it had plenty of office buildings, but it had decayed over time and lacked life.

Nine years ago, the city's business and political leadership devised a plan to make their downtown a shopping and entertainment destination. They also sought to coax businesses that had fled downtown to return and interest people to live there.

Today, Kansas City has the massive, nine-block, Kansas City Power and Light District, which is filled with restaurants and night clubs. It also has a downtown shopping district as well as loft apartments where 17,000 people live. It even houses an art museum that provides free admission.

All of that impressed about 100 Jacksonville professionals and business leaders who spent three days in Kansas City this week as part of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce's annual leadership trip.

"They have been able to accomplish so much together in a relatively short period of time," said Penny Thompson, Shands Jacksonville Vice President of Public Affairs. "It was an amazing trip."

The city's philanthropic track record is also very impressive, she said. The city's Stowers Institute for Medical Research was funded by $2 billion in investments from a city couple, for example.

Many came away with an appreciation of how Kansas City's focus on its downtown could work in Jacksonville.

"I think that is very much needed here in downtown Jacksonville," said city General Counsel Rick Mullaney.

An integral part of downtown planning in Kansas City was the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, a CEO-led group that has worked since 1964 to focus on the city's improvement, Mullaney said.

"I think they took a look at the dilapidated aspects of Kansas City, and they did undergo a very substantial investment," he said.

That investment, all told, was about $4 billion c a mixture of private and public investment, including voter-approved bond issues, said Mayor John Peyton.

City Council Member Art Shad said Kansas City's philanthropic firepower came from having large, wealthy corporations based in town c such as Hallmark and H&R Block. And that, he said, will lead to civic improvements in downtown Jacksonville.

"We need to do what we can to have corporate wealth in our town," he said. "They really incentivized downtown development. There's not a secret to it. I don't know if our city has the desire to incentivize people to live downtown."

Shad said Jacksonville has desires to improve, too, but those have to be followed by funds. The Kansas City Power and Light District, for example, cost $850 million, which was raised from hotel and rental car taxes, he said.

"We have great ideas. We don't have $850 million," he said. "They really put their money where their mouth is in Kansas City," Shad said.

Peyton said Jacksonville may actually be closer to a renewed downtown than Kansas City was when their efforts began. Currently, about 3,000 people live in apartments and condominiums in downtown Jacksonville, and its river walks, library and City Hall are recently completed improvements, he said. And a new courthouse is under construction.

Peyton said the main concept that he came away with from the trip is Jacksonville's need for an organization like the Kansas City's influential Civic Council.

"The council studies and provides rationales for bold visions," he said.

But members of the group stay in the background, doing all their work behind the scenes and shunning public attention, he said. And, he said, the civic council hired an architect who established the first vision for their city's downtown transformation.

"Right now, they're studying high-speed rail connectivity," he said. "They've got long-term concerns about the water supply. They take on the very serious challenges. They act as a resource for elected officials."