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Redevelopers of Katz Drug Store ask KCMO for tax breaks

Katz Drug Store.png
Posted at 6:01 AM, Jun 16, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-16 07:01:13-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Wednesday afternoon, the Kansas City, Missouri, Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee will get its first look at a proposed ordinance that developers say will help pay for plans to build apartments on the old Katz Drug Store property near Main Street and Westport Road.

Renderings on Lux Living’s website show plans for a six-story, 190-unit apartment complex surrounding the old drug store with a pool on the roof of the drug store. The plans would preserve the retail building and its historic clock tower.

To pay for the project, Lux Living is asking the city to issue bonds and give it tax breaks.

The city would not be on the hook to repay the bonds should the project fail.

Lux Living is asking for up to $32 million in taxable industrial development revenue bonds. Discounts on property taxes would be in place as the developer repays the bonds.

Developers said the incentives would allow it to build the project, which would, in turn, promote other economic development in the area.

The Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee meets at 1:30 p.m. on the 26th floor of City Hall at 414 East 12th St. to discuss the proposal.

Historic Kansas City listed the drug store on its 2019 most endangered list.