Commercial Real Estate
KCI Intermodal BusinessCentre will strengthen airport
Kansas City Business Journal - by Tammy Worth Contributing Writer
DESCRIPTION: KCI Intermodal BusinessCentre aims to help position Kansas City International Airport as a center of manufacturing, intermodal shipping and commercial development.
ACRES: The center will cover 800 acres at the southeast corner of KCI.
COMMERCIAL SPACE: 1.8 million square feet in the first phase; 5.4 million square feet at full buildout.
DEVELOPER: Trammell Crow Co., which is working with the Kansas City Aviation Department
COST: $232 million
TIMELINE: Construction of Phase I is due to be completed in the summer.
“We’re trying to go vertical with a speculative building sometime later this year,” said Jim Didion, principal of Trammell Crow. He said that future growth will depend on how fast the buildings are absorbed.
TRANSPORTATION PLAYERS: Didion said Trammell Crow will promote the site to various companies in the air freight cargo intermodal business. The users of the facilities predominately will be those that transport between air and truck.
TRANSPORTATION CORRIDORS: The center is near Interstate 29, Interstate 435 and Missouri Highway 152, as well as Tiffany Springs Parkway and Prairie View Road. Tiffany Springs Parkway will extend west and tie into a new road network designed to feed into airport terminals, and this most likely will be the main entrance to the intermodal site.
SPECIALIZATION: The facilities will be used for airlines, manufacturers, freight forwarders and big-box distributors among others. Didion said the space is designed as an industrial park with on-ramp access to airport air cargo facilities. He said it probably will be used by companies that ship time-sensitive items, such as flowers and seafood.
Mark VanLoh, director of the Kansas City Aviation Department, said the center also could attract companies that need to get their goods to the airport at the last minute and move them quickly, such as distributors of mail-order pharmaceuticals, computer parts and jewelry. Big-box retailers that need a centralized location for truck-to-truck distribution, such as Wal-Mart, might land at the center.
Didion also said that traditional office space for small users and light manufacturing also is planned. He said that as Tiffany Springs Parkway is extended that there may be some “softer” commercial uses, such as restaurants and hotels.
INTERMODAL VOLUME EXPECTED: No estimates have been released.
JOBS: No estimates have been released.
ECONOMIC IMPACT: Didion said one of the reasons for building the project is that the city is trying to take an asset that is underutilized and generate interest. It will enable the airport to keep landing fees low, and it should spur other development as well, which could include truck stops for the hundreds of trucks coming in and out of the facility each day, he said.
“They are hopeful that this will provide the impetus to get development in the Northland kicked off,” Didion said.
VanLoh said that KCI is one of the least expensive airports in the nation out of which to operate and that he is hoping the intermodal facility will enable the city to keep it that way. He said that increasing costs either drives airlines away or drives up prices for passengers — both of which he would like to avoid.
“My goal is to increase nonaviation revenues, and this is an excellent way to do it,” he said.
Tammy Worth | Worth is a freelance writer in the Kansas City area.
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