The Kansas City Area Development Council's 2022 Annual Meeting took place at the KC Convention Center on Wednesday, Nov. 9 — and you guessed it, City Editors Bella and Travis were in attendance.

The event welcomed 2,000 of the region’s business, civic, academic, and elected leaders. The theme, "Level Up," captured how KC continues to rise to a new level and celebrated the record-breaking year for the region.

Crunch the numbers

$5.6 billion in capital investment
$354 million in payroll
Nearly 6,000 new jobs
7 million sqft of development

The standout year is six times more than KCADC’s historical annual investment success as the council attracted 13 new companies to the region. Over the last decade, the influx of business is nearly an equal split across the two-state, 18-county region.

In addition to remarks from KCADC leadership, executives from Meta and Panasonic discussed both companies' transformational projects currently underway in the region.

Lights, camera, annual meeting. | Photo by KCtoday

Choosing KC

Meta announced its $800 million project earlier this year, detailing a nearly 1 million sqft data center that will provide up to 100 long-term jobs. In about eight months, they've moved 2 million cubic yards of dirt, 42,000 linear ft of electrical, and crews will start building vertical steel this month.

"KCMO truly had it all with virtually every desirable factor we were looking for," Meta Community Development Manager Matt Sexton said. "It had great infrastructure, access to renewable energy [...] we have a world-class workforce here [...] and a high quality of life to attract and retain the best talent here in Kansas City."

Panasonic announced its $4 billion project this summer + officially broke ground on a new electric vehicle battery plant in De Soto, KS, on Wednesday, Nov. 2. This is the largest private investment in Kansas history — kind of a big deal. lol love this and the pull quote

Swan told us that De Soto was chosen out of 12 other states and 100+ prospected sites. The build is expected to take two years to complete.

The program also included a keynote presentation from Omar Johnson, former chief marketing officer at Beats by Dre and founder of innovative marketing agency, ØPUS United.