KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The KCATA Board of Commissioners voted no Wednesday on a developer’s request for taxpayer help to build an apartment complex in downtown KC.
Mac Properties already has a huge presence in Midtown, according to KC Tenants community organizer Gabe Coppage.
“They own more than 2,000 units basically all here in Midtown,” he said.
Mac Properties would like to increase the footprint by nearly 300 units and to do so has sought tax incentives and bonds to cover part of the cost of a new complex at Main Street and Armor Boulevard.
Incentives don’t sit well with Coppage.
“By charging some of the highest rents in this neighborhood, but constantly finding ways to try and get government subsidies,” he said. “And this is our taxpayer money.”
Coppage and several others spoke at a meeting Wednesday before the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.
The Board of Commissioners voted not to authorize a package of bonds for Mac Properties.
Much of Board Chair Melissa Bynum’s vote to deny the request hinged on community feedback.
He also says he has too many unanswered questions to approve the bonds.
About a year ago, the Kansas City Council denied a similar request for tax breaks.
“These are the places where we really need to have consensus,” Bynum said. “These are the places where we need to have an agreement on what might be the right thing for the community to do.”
The developer has not said whether it will go ahead with the project without incentives.
