Company Statement: Overland Park City Council establishes TIF district for Black & Veatch headquarters

Last night, several representatives of Black & Veatch attended an Overland Park City Council meeting to continue conversations on the proposed $1.12B multi-use project at the site of the company’s current headquarters on Lamar Avenue in Overland Park. The Council voted unanimously for the establishment of a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Redevelopment District. There were no comments from members of the community. The company issued a public statement to local media to explain our current plans for the potential new site and facility.

"We appreciated the opportunity tonight to have the Overland Park City Council consider the proposed development that includes a potential future global headquarters for Black & Veatch. We are pleased that the Council voted unanimously to approve the establishment of a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Redevelopment District. We appreciate the support and comments from the council members and look forward to collaborating with them on our project planning.

We’ve had an Overland Park presence since 1976 and have been a proud partner with the city in Overland Park’s continued development. Back then, we had a vision for Black & Veatch to be an innovation hub in this area of Kansas City and a thriving environment for many of our employee-owners and their families. Today, the Black & Veatch headquarters is the single largest office building in the entirety of Kansas, and we look forward to maintaining our historical footprint here with neighboring businesses, residents and the community at large.

Black & Veatch’s primary intent for this project is the development of a new, contemporary and resource-efficient designed headquarters to replace our current facility sorely in need of significant upgrades that aren’t now cost feasible. While the proposed multi-use project also considers other facilities — including apartments, a hotel and retail — Black & Veatch will likely not be developing those ourselves, and we will help identify and work with private developers with a vision that aligns with the city’s and ours to bring in best-in-class facilities and amenities to benefit this region of Overland Park.

Our existing 33.2-acre parcel of land includes Black & Veatch’s current aging headquarters, as well as more than 20 acres of asphalt parking lots to accommodate weekday parking for our 2,200 employee-owners. The development will shift that parking to a more efficient parking structure that could be utilized as appropriate for overflow parking by the community during special events on evenings and weekends when not in use by Black & Veatch. We are still very early in this process, and all this is the best overview of our intent as of today. We appreciate the continued collaboration with the city of Overland Park and look forward to future discussions.”