Presidents Club: A Powerful New Voice in KC Real Estate

A who's who of Kansas City's commercial real estate elite was recently assembled by LWREC director Walt Clements to address important local economic development and real estate issues. In addition to weighing in on policies of concern to the greater commercial real estate community, the group, known as the Presidents Club, will foster the development of the UMKC Lewis White Real Estate Center, including its intended launch of a new real estate masters program by the fall of 2011. Both the advisory group and the masters program will be invaluable sources of guidance and innovation for the region's real estate sector in the years ahead. Read more...

Infrastructure

Infrastructure (an incredibly broad category) location, capacity, and condition are critical factors in real estate investment decisions. Economic slowdowns and resulting contractions in tax receipts and budgets for local governments tend to lead to particularly pronounced infrastructure deficiencies. Something of a negative feedback loop can emerge in such an environment, given the heavy reliance of many local government revenue streams on real estate activities. In some cases, funding shortfalls and forced resource reallocations lead to reworkings of infrastructure funding channels and project processes (selections, approvals, reviews, etc). For example, recently, federal stimulus funds have trickled through to select infrastructure projects. Private, public-private, and community-based efforts can also offer alternative means of infrastructure provision. But there remain innumerable project wishlists and maintenance backlogs dispersed across our city and beyond in need of creative solutions. Here's a smattering of links to current KC infrastructure-related stories and organizations:

"Chamber: Kansas City infrastructure shortcomings hurt business"

U.S. 71 upgrades coming

Green infrastructure

Christopher S. Bond Bridge project

KC Design Center

City's new infrastructure manager