Business, Pitch

Streetcar opponents apparently not done opposing streetcars

Steve Vockrodt — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:34:00 -0500

Well, you could see this coming. The downtown Kansas City, Missouri, business owners who thought so little of the streetcar idea that they sued to stop it are looking for another day in court.…

Local Hostess Brand outlet stores still open

Ben Palosaari — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:29:00 -0600

We woke up today to a post-Twinkie world. At least temporarily.…

Zaarly Storefronts arrive in Kansas City this weekend

Ben Palosaari — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:56:00 -0500

The first thing you need to know about Zaarly’s newest endeavor, Zaarly Storefronts, is that you can leave the trowel at home. These are not brick-and-mortar businesses, despite the name.…

Kansas City Board of Trade has been purchased by the CME Group

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 10:15:00 -0500

The Kansas City Board of Trade, where wheat has been bought and sold for 156 years, has been bought. The CME Group, Inc., and the KCBT announced this morning that the hard red winter wheat futures and options exchange, at 4800 Main, would be purchased for $126 million in cash.…

Softbank in "advanced talks" to buy Sprint Nextel

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 09:32:00 -0500

Sprint Nextel Corp. might soon be very big in Japan. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this morning that Softbank Corp., Japan's third biggest mobile-phone operation, is in "advanced talks" to purchase the U.S. mobile carrier.…

Ikea's store in Merriam by the numbers

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 09:40:00 -0500

Ikea made it official yesterday with its press conference announcing a fall 2014 opening for a new store in Merriam, Kansas. The Swedish furniture retailer is purchasing the scuttled Merriam Village development from Developers Diversified Realty.…

Ikea looking to open a store in Merriam in 2014

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 07:52:00 -0500

Get your allen wrenches out of storage, Ikea is coming to Merriam, Kansas. The Swedish furniture retailer is holding a press conference this morning at 10:30 to announce its plans for its first proposed Kansas City-area store that would open in the fall of 2014.…

Smith Electric Vehicles withdraws IPO

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 06:30:03 -0500

Smith Electric Vehicles was scheduled to price out its initial public offering last night. Instead, the
Kansas City-based manufacturer announced plans to withdraw its IPO and pursue private financing.…

Prairiefire development construction to start in November

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 09:01:00 -0500

After six years, construction on the Prairiefire at Lions Gate mixed-use development finally has a start date. Developer Fred Merrill shared updated plans with the Overland Park City Council Wednesday night, including a projected construction start date of November [h/t KSHB].…

In Raytown, Craigslist ads become obscure art (Update)

Ben Palosaari — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:07:00 -0500

Update: Two more Things of Steven were posted over the weekend: a Super Nintendo with games and an invisible pony and a "1:1 Scale Replica of IKEA 'Expedit' Shelving Unit." And the scribe behind Things of Steven sent me an email early Saturday morning.…

Kansas City's parking salvation could be just one app away

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:03:03 -0500

Kansas City drivers looking for a parking space swing through downtown like uncertain dance partners, interrupting the flow of traffic and just hoping to not careen into something that leaves a mark. Hope, and parking advice, could come from 'Where Da Spot' a hypothetical application created by Sporting Innovations for the Hack the Midwest conference that needs a champion and a developer [h/t Kansas City IT Professionals].…

Alamo Drafthouse will be taking over the Main Street movie theater

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 09:13:00 -0500

It didn't take long for Mainstreet Theater to find a new date. Only a week after AMC Entertainment Inc. announced that it would be ending its relationship with Cordish Co., the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has revealed that it will be taking over the movie theater at 1400 Main [h/t Lost in Reviews].…

AMC purchased by Chinese company for $2.6 billion

Ben Palosaari — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:30:00 -0500

First AMC announced that it was leaving downtown Kansas City, where it had been headquartered since 1920, and now its ownership has left the country. The Kansas City Business Journal reports that Dalian Wanda Group Co. Ltd., a privately held Chinese company, announced that it had snapped up AMC and its 346 multiplex theaters and 5,034 screens on Sunday night.…

Chinese theater owners said to be interested in purchasing AMC

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:27:00 -0500

Wanda Group, the Chinese equivalent of AMC Entertainment, is believed to be in talks to acquire the chain of North American theaters headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. The New York Times reports that negotiations became serious when AMC apparently decided to forgo an initial public offering at the end of April.…

Zaarly grows by $14 million in funding and Meg Whitman

Ben Palosaari — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:17:45 -0500

When The Pitch wrote about locally founded e-commerce startup Zaarly in September, the Kansas City office was positively buzzing with good vibes and excitement. The peppy, relentlessly optimistic staff told us that Zaarly, which allows users to post requests for anything (a sandwich delivered, somebody to mow a law, etc.) to a website, which other users then fulfill for a set price, could be the next big Web company and social experiment.…

AMC Entertainment will leave downtown for Leawood

David Martin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 07:36:00 -0500

AMC Entertainment is the latest business to answer the call of the Kansas program that offers a big pile of money to companies that relocate there, usually from Kansas City, Missouri.

AMC will receive a tax rebate of more than $40 million to leave downtown and build a new headquarters in Leawood.…

Is this what Google Fiber will be like in KC?

Scott Wilson — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 06:00:57 -0500

Monday's Wall Street Journal story touting Kansas City as one of the nation's new tech hubs has already earned a grumpy counterpoint from The Kansas City Star. The reality check was fair, but if you want to hold on a little longer to that warm, fuzzy feeling of being acknowledged by the East Coast, here's some good news: That Google Fiber super-double-crazy-fast thing is totally going to kick ass.…

The Kansas City Chiefs are the 27th most valuable team in the world, Forbes says

Ben Palosaari — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:45:20 -0500

Rich peoples' magazine Forbes, which seemingly puts out a sports-related list every three or four months, has released a list of the world's 50 most valuable teams. And the Kansas City Chiefs came in at No. 27.…

Marketing firm Global Prairie finds new digs, partially disappears from tax rolls

David Martin — Tue, 31 May 2011 07:05:07 -0500

A Kansas City marketing company has moved four blocks, and the city will become a little poorer as a result.

Global Prairie has changed addresses in the Crossroads District.…

Big-time speakers to bring blemished pasts to Sprint Center

David Martin — Tue, 24 May 2011 06:05:00 -0500

Get Motivated, the business seminar that takes over the Sprint Center next week, is not being advertised on every billboard in the city -- it only seems that way.

The daylong event doesn't lack star power. Among its dozen-plus speakers are two men who have run for the country's highest office (Rudy Giuliani, Steve Forbes) and a woman who is married to a former president (Laura Bush).…

Depths of NovaStar Financial's awfulness explained in new book

David Martin — Mon, 23 May 2011 15:30:00 -0500

One of the high flyers in the subprime-mortgage game was based in Kansas City. Shares of NovaStar Financial traded at $70 at one point.

It was an illusion baked in pie crust.…

Kansas Bioscience Authority's CEO was in line to make $463,200

David Martin — Thu, 19 May 2011 13:44:02 -0500

It's been reported that Tom Thornton, who resigned as president and chief executive of the Kansas Bioscience Authority in April, earned a $265,000 salary and a $100,000 bonus in 2010. Lavish compensation was on the list of complaints that Republican lawmakers lodged against the agency.

It turns out that Thornton had the potential to earn even more money.…

14-year-old business decision continues to kick H&R Block's ass

David Martin — Tue, 10 May 2011 10:01:30 -0500

In 1997, H&R Block got into the subprime lending business. The Kansas City-based tax-preparation company bought an outfit called Option One.…

Borders announces more closings, including original OP location

Scott Wilson — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 08:48:41 -0500

File under: Shocker! Retail black hole Borders Group announced Friday that it would close 28 more stores by the end of May -- including the location at 91st Street and Metcalf in Overland Park, which was the chain's first area outpost.

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Koch brothers near top of Forbes' billionaires list; you're poorer than you thought

Ben Palosaari — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 06:00:00 -0600

In case you were looking for a barometer to quantify your complete lack of funds, the new Forbes billionaires list is out. And you're not on it.…