KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Costco finally unveiled a location in the Northland, and the Platte County R-3 School District stands to benefit from the pending development.
In a joint announcement Friday, March 4, the City of Kansas City announced the intentions of Costco Wholesaler to build a new location at N. Platte Purchase Drive and NW 88th Street in Kansas City, Mo. — just off of Highway 152. The building will sit on the southeast corner of the 152-N. Platte Purchase intersection in Clay County with a target open date of Nov. 1, 2016.
MD Management also plans to gift 80 acres of land to the Platte County R-3 School District as part of the overall development plan.
The district’s new parcel of land sits in the northwest corner in Platte County and lies almost directly north of the current school campus of Barry School and Pathfinder Elementary. The 80 acres would be projected to house a middle school and high school to be built at some point in the future.
The school land will be directly south of a future residential development called Bittersweet Farms, an MD Management property.
“I’ve heard of gifts like these but never experienced them personally,” Platte County superintendent Dr. Mike Reik said, calling the situation a win-win-win.
Owners of land on all four corners of the intersection, MD Management plans to develop the entire area into retail but believes the added school presence only serves to drive residents and therefore customers to the area.
The district had been aggressively seeking land in the southern portion of the district in recent years, and according to Reik, a compiled matrix rating potential areas had the gifted land rated in the top three. Currently, no funding source exists for future building projects, but a middle school on the site could help address short term needs, while also being large enough to accommodate the district’s anticipated second high school, which could be needed within two decades according to some growth projections.
Reik said the site would be included in a reworked master plan to help determine a timetable for eventual construction. He said current financial analyses show that the district could bond between $30 and $40 million in 2020 without a tax increase to fund a new middle school if space is needed at that time.
In addition, the added retail serves as an immediate boon to the district in terms of property tax. The Costco will be located within the Platte County R-3 School District along with the rest of the anticipated development at the intersection along Highway 152 between Green Hills Road and North Oak Trafficway.
The area sits on the southeast portion of the recently completed Twin Creeks sewer project, which provided infrastructure to about 15,000 acres worth of undeveloped land in the Northland. Costco represents one of the biggest retail commitments to the area since it was completed last year.
There is also a Menards store under construction along Green Hills Road that will also be within Platte County’s district boundaries.
“Kansas City promised our residents our investment in the Northland’s water and sewer infrastructure would bring growth to this region,” Kansas City second district councilmember Dan Fowler said. “We are pleased to deliver on that promise today with the announcement of the opening of Costco, and the added economic benefits for our community and our schools.”
Long rumored to be interested in the Northland, Costco finally picked a site. The pending Metro North Crossing redevelopment of the former Metro North Mall had also been considered a possibility.
That property also sits within the Platte County R-3 School District.
“I want to highlight the tremendous sense of collaboration and cooperation the school district has felt throughout this process,” Reik said. “This is yet another example of community collaboration to maximize amenities and benefits for the Northland.”
The selected site sits across NW 88th Street from the current location of Pediatric Care North. The new neighbor will be the multi-billion dollar wholesale giant based off a familiar membership policy.
Costco is also known for its low turnover rate and benefit packages open to all employees. If Costco can’t meet the immediate timeline, the opening of the store would likely be pushed back to April of 2017, according to officials on site at the formal announcement press conference.
As of now, Costco will be the only planned building on the MD Management properties.