About a century ago, Wichita began to learn what being in on the ground floor of the aviation industry could do for an economy. Now, there are predictions Douglas County and the surrounding area may soon experience a similar boom by being an early player in the electric vehicle industry. “I don’t think the idea of how much potential there is for growth is really understood by the public yet,” Eudora Mayor Tim Reazin said as Panasonic Corp. announced Wednesday that it plans to build a $4 billion battery plant for electric vehicles in De Soto, which is only about 5 miles from Eudora and the Douglas County line. … The state is estimating that number at 16,500 jobs. That’s potentially a lot of new residents coming to the region, looking for places to live near their new worksite. Not all of them will end up in De Soto. “All the way into east Lawrence,” Reazin said as he contemplated the future growth pattern. “I think there is potential for quite a bit of growth along K-10. The idea of Lawrence growing only to the west is going to change.” Steve Kelly, vice president of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Corporation of Lawrence and Douglas County, said the Douglas County area will have opportunities to land both businesses and new residential housing as part of the project. A longtime executive with the Kansas Department of Commerce before serving Lawrence, Steve Kelly said the only other Kansas project that seems analogous to the Panasonic deal — the governor said it is the largest in the state’s history by dollar amount — is the development of Wichita as the Air Capital of the World.
Source: LJWorld
