The project is called Roosevelt Row. It's a mixed-use development on the eastern edge of downtown — retail on the ground floor, apartments above, a parking garage that takes up half the footprint. The city approved $18 million in TIF subsidies for it in 2024. The developer's public benefit agreement promised 12 units of affordable housing and "local hiring commitments."

Three years earlier, the same developer received $12 million in subsidies for a project called Blue Station. That one promised 8 affordable units and a community room. The community room was built. The affordable units were not — the developer applied for and received a waiver from the Tax Abatement Council, citing "market conditions" [1].

Kansas City's tax increment financing program has been running since 1982. In that time, it has funneled more than $2 billion in public subsidy to private development [2]. The program works like this: the city captures the increase in property taxes generated by a new project and redirects it to the developer for a set period, typically 20-25 years. The developer also typically receives a abatement on the increased property taxes that would otherwise go to schools, parks, and other services.

-- JORDAN WHITMORE, Kansas City

The Roosevelt Row developer has received TIF approvals for seven projects over the past eight years totaling $87 million in public subsidy [3]. His family foundation has contributed $175,000 to the mayor's political action committee over the same period, according to campaign finance records [4].

The Tax Abatement Council meets monthly and approves most applications in sessions that last under 10 minutes. Public comment is technically allowed but rarely exercised; the meetings are scheduled for Tuesday afternoons, and the agenda is posted the preceding Friday. Most Kansas Citians don't know the meetings exist.

Community benefit agreements — the negotiated commitments that developers make in exchange for subsidies — are typically drafted by the developer's attorney and reviewed by city staff. Community groups can weigh in, but their suggestions are often watered down in negotiations. The result, say housing advocates who track the process, is agreements with vague language and weak enforcement mechanisms.

"By the time the community benefit agreement is signed, the TIF is approved," said one housing organizer who has attended multiple abatement council meetings. "We can object. We can speak. But the deal is done."

The affordable housing waiver process is particularly opaque. Developers apply for waivers citing "market conditions" — a phrase that has never been defined in city ordinance. The abatement council votes on waiver applications without independent analysis of whether the cited conditions actually exist.

The Star covered the Roosevelt Row TIF approval as a business story. The development was announced, the economic development director provided a statement, the developer's spokesperson described the project as "transformative." The community benefit agreement received one sentence. The prior waiver on Blue Station was not mentioned.