Kansas City, Platte County and the state of Missouri have been down this road before. The region has put itself in a position to land a $400 million airplane assembly plant and the roughly 2,100 quality, high-paying jobs that go with it.

The KCI-based site is a legitimate contender to land the plant, which is somewhat remarkable since its chief
competition is Montreal, which happens to be home to Bombardier Aerospace, the company building the plant.

There’s still plenty of work to do, and myriad factors still to play out, but for now economic development officials, business and civic leaders feel pretty good about their chances. But it is a guarded optimism. The memories of a similar opportunity lost just a decade ago still linger prominently. That’s when NASCAR came calling, ready to develop a new track near KCI. Depending on who’s doing the remembering, either Missouri didn’t do enough or Kansas did too much, or
both. Regardless, the Kansas Speedway, and surrounding investment, landed in Wyandotte County.

But that was then. This is a new, more nimble Missouri pursuing Bombardier, boosters say.

So what’s changed in the decade or so since NASCAR—and Village West, and Legends—set up shop in Kansas?
For starters, the players in Jefferson City are different. Consider that in the justconcluded general session, rural and city
lawmakers from all corners and sides of the state came together to approve the tax-credit legislation by the margin of 138-14 in the House. Further, to many longtime observers, it’s downright astonishing that business and civic leaders in St. Louis were among the biggest proponents of a project slated for Kansas City.

Yes, St. Louis and Kansas City working together, side by side, arm in arm. When is the last time that happened?

This tale is a long way from its conclusion— the governor still needs to sign the legislation; local and state economic
development officials still need to polish and finesse their final proposal to Bombardier, convincing the company that its rosy view of affordable Kansas City and its world-renowned work ethic are warranted; and Bombardier officials need to set aside national pride and choose Kansas City, Missouri, over Montreal.