Steve Prudden believes things are about to drastically change for De Soto, a Johnson County community that’s long teetered at the intersection of rural and suburban. Three generations of Pruddens have processed and sold ground beef, bacon and steaks at his local Steve’s Meat Market. With only 6,200 locals in De Soto, the butcher relied on restaurants and grocery stores across the metro area to stay afloat for the last 53 years. But the fabric of De Soto is about to be forever changed by Japanese electronics giant Panasonic, which is building a massive electric vehicle battery plant on the site of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant just south of K-10. Panasonic expects to hire 4,000 workers for the nearly 4-million-square-foot plant. “I believe we’re getting ready to explode,” Prudden said. No one knows how many of those workers might live in or near tiny De Soto. But this community was already changing and growing from the relentless sprawl that has defined the state’s wealthiest and most populous county in recent decades. Locals just celebrated the addition of a Taco Bell, which gave the town a total of four fast food franchises. Now, locals expect major developments to follow the $4 billion plant to De Soto.
Source: KC Star Local News
