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P R O F I L E
Rendering of the BNIM renovation that was abandoned due to a controversy over tax incentives. / BNIM
Homeless in Kansas City? Thanks to the demise of a proposed deal to renovate and occupy a downtown landmark, architecture firm BNIM is looking for new headquarters before current lease expires.
the incentives. Rather than fight the supporters of the school district, who argued that the project did not need a tax break, BNIM pulled the plug on the $13-million deal. “It is not beneficial to our company, or its employ- ees, to engage in a contentious fight over the role of development incentives in building and improving our city,” a BNIM representative says in a February 4 press release. “Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that we announce that we will be withdrawing our project proposal effective immediately.” According to the Kansas City Business Journal , BNIM now has to find a temporary office – it’s cur- rent lease expires in December – a move that could cost the firm as much as $1 million. See BNIM, page 12 “We worked diligently with city officials and community leaders to strike a balance that would benefit all. However, we did not anticipate our project becoming a lightning rod in a much larger incentives fight.”
By RICHARD MASSEY Managing Editor
A major architecture firm in Kansas City is scrambling to find a home after its plan to ren- ovate and occupy a historic building in the Cross- roads Arts District was abandoned after the tax break for the deal was vociferously opposed by a group within the Kansas City Public Schools. On the strength of a reported $5.2 million in Tax Increment Financing, BNIM (Kansas City, MO), had plans to renovate the warehouse at 1640 Bal- timore Ave., and lease the top two floors for 15 years from the building’s owner, KC philanthropist and developer Shirley Helzberg. But patrons of the school district threatened to take the proposed tax breaks to a public vote, where they hoped to defeat “It is really disappointing to see the Helzberg Development Project for BNIM’s new headquarters go away, but the abandonment of the project is perfectly understandable from the point of view of the developer and BNIM.”
THE ZWEIG LETTER March 14, 2016, ISSUE 1143
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