De Soto officials are laying the groundwork for Johnson County’s largest contiguously owned site to effectively house a new town. It will be a years-long challenge involving a defunct Army ammunition plant that has sat empty, and contaminated, for decades. Thursday evening, the De Soto City Council will consider establishing a tax increment financing district that includes 6,009 acres of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant, located southeast of a bend in Kansas Highway 10 in western Johnson County. The council voted in November to annex about 6,376 acres — the vast majority of them part of the 9,000-acre former ammo plant — and signed a predevelopment agreement with Sunflower Redevelopment Group. Managing members of Sunflower Redevelopment, to which the U.S. Army in 2005 transferred the former plant site, include Kessinger/Hunter & Co. LC of Kansas City; RESIGHT Holdings LLC of Littleton, Colorado; and Midland Properties Inc. of Mission Woods.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal
