KANSAS CITY — The border business war continues with the announcement that AMC Entertainment is leaving downtown Kansas City and crossing the state line to Leawood.
The Kansas City Star reported that Kansas offered AMC a $47 million incentive package from Kansas, ending a year-long contest with Missouri. The switch moves 400 jobs across the state line. Kansas City Mayor Sly James said his city and Missouri couldn’t match the deal offered by Kansas. The move is the latest in which businesses have moved across the state line as the two states have poached Kansas City-area businesses from each other. James tolds the Star that the cross-border poaching is wasting taxpayer money without creating any net economic benefit for the Kansas City area.
The AMC situation also prompted a group of 17 key business executives on both sides of the border to ask the governors of Missouri and Kansas to declare a cease-fire in Kansas City. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said he’d consider a truce. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has refused.
Monday, Sept. 19, 1 p.m.
