Developers behind Kansas City's Power & Light District are leaning on Missouri lawmakers to bring a long‑dormant package of downtown incentives back to life and make it even broader, with a proposal that would send pieces of state tax revenue into new central‑city projects. The effort, first reported by the Kansas City Business Journal on March 11, surfaces as legislators weigh bills to reauthorize and reshape the Missouri Downtown and Rural Economic Stimulus Act.
What lawmakers filed
A Senate bill would relaunch the program under a new name, the "Missouri Downtown and Rural Economic Stimulus Act Extension Act," while opening the door to larger development areas, 35‑year obligations and the use of state tax increments to cover project costs, according to a Missouri Senate summary. The measure instructs the Department of Economic Development to send state construction and residential income tax increments to approved projects and spells out when those state payments would have to stop.
How the money could flow
The full language lays out the mechanics in detail. It defines a "residential income tax increment" and allows as much as 85% of the estimate of state income tax tied to the wages of residents in a project area to be redirected into development costs, while also removing displacement tests that had limited which projects could qualify, per LegiScan. The bill also lets development areas be amended, enlarged or set up as noncontiguous sites, potentially widening the map of downtown parcels that could tap state support.
Cordish's push and the Power & Light history
The Kansas City Business Journal reports that The Cordish Cos. has been actively pressing Jefferson City for these changes, arguing that past incentives helped jump‑start downtown investment. Coverage in the Business Journal and Cordish's own materials point out that the company developed the Power & Light District and link that project to a broader downtown turnaround. A case study from Cordish describes the district as a cornerstone in years of private money flowing into downtown Kansas City.
Fiscal trade‑offs and questions
The incentives come with clear trade‑offs. A fiscal analysis of a related downtown tax‑credit proposal projected potential general‑revenue losses of up to about $100 million a year and flagged the likely need for additional state staff to run a bigger program, according to a Missouri House fiscal note. That example helps explain why some lawmakers and watchdog groups are wary of long‑term diversions of state sales and income tax growth, even in the name of downtown revival.
Why it matters locally
For Kansas City, reviving MODESA could unlock incentives for more "Light" towers and long‑discussed mixed‑use projects, while stretching public support for downtown development into multi‑decade commitments. The bill itself points to MODESA‑approved projects in Kansas City and St. Louis as drivers of private investment and tourism, stating that earlier rounds "incentivized over two billion dollars in private investment," according to LegiScan.
Lawmakers have started taking testimony, and the proposal is headed for committee scrutiny in the coming weeks. Expect a drawn‑out spring debate over whether another round of targeted incentives will be sold as the next engine of downtown growth or criticized as an expensive, long‑running subsidy for developers.
