BY: ANNA KAMINSKI
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — A Kansas City suburb rose to the top in a major e-commerce company’s nationwide search for a new hub through hefty incentives.
Fortune 500 company Fiserv plans to open a new location in Overland Park, the Kansas governor’s office announced Monday, touting the addition of 2,000 jobs and a 10-year, $6.5 billion economic impact. The state is offering millions in incentives.
Gov. Laura Kelly’s office called the deal the largest office recruitment in the state’s history.
Frank Bisignano, chairman and CEO of Fiserv, said the planned Overland Park hub is an opportunity to expand the company’s footprint in the United States and foster innovation in the financial services field on behalf of its clients.
“The greater Kansas City metro area offers a dynamic environment with a growing population of tech talent, making it the ideal location for Fiserv’s next strategic fintech hub,” he said.
State incentives totaling nearly $155 million over 10 years reward Fiserv with tax credits for above-average wages, a payroll tax withholding refund for creating jobs, relocation funds for out-of-state employees, a job creation award, personal property tax and sales tax abatements, and workforce recruitment assistance.
For every one-dollar investment in state incentives, $21.22 will be added to Kansas’ gross domestic product, said Patrick Lowry, a spokesman for the Kansas Department of Commerce.
“These are high-value jobs to help keep more graduates of Kansas colleges and universities remain in Kansas,” he said.
Fiserv has committed $175 million for the project, according to Lowry.
The company’s announcement came less than a week after Overland Park’s Finance, Administration and Economic Development Committee unanimously gave preliminary approval to a property tax rebate program for “Project Turtle,” which has been connected to Fiserv.
The Overland Park City Council is set to take up the issue Monday, but the project has already earned Mayor Curt Skoog’s unofficial approval.
“This is the biggest job-creating project that we’ve worked on in my time,” he said at the economic development committee’s Wednesday meeting.
In Skoog’s 20 years of involvement with the city, he said, he has witnessed significant growth successes and attractive additions to the community
“But this one is a really, really amazing win for us,” he said.
If approved, Project Turtle would receive a rebate on city, county and Blue Valley Recreation Commission property taxes. The company would pay full property taxes to the Blue Valley School District and Johnson County Community College levies.
Under the rebate agreement, taxes will be paid, and then the company would submit an application to the city to be reimbursed for about 40% of those taxes, or an estimated $1.3 million over 10 years of the company’s 15-year lease.
But the rebate is contingent on meeting certain conditions.
Those conditions include a $125 million investment in renovations and improvements and maintaining 2,000 full-time employees by 2030. The governor’s office said those employees will earn an average salary of $102,000 annually. The state anticipates Fiserv will contribute up to $4 billion in payroll investment over the next decade.
The company also would be required to participate in community engagement, invest in memberships with the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce and the Overland Park Economic Development Council, and commit to using Overland Park hotels and facilities for conventions and meetings.
The economic development committee liked the idea of reusing existing space and increasing the long-term property value at the 200-acre Aspiria campus, which was considered at one point as a new location for the Kansas City Royals. After Sprint sold the campus in 2019, it was envisioned as a live-work-play environment tailored to businesses and entrepreneurs. It’s one of the largest corporate campuses in the U.S., second only to Microsoft’s campus in Washington state.
Fiserv is expected to lease two buildings on the campus, totaling 427,000 square feet.
The tax incentives are an “important component” of the deal, said Alex Leath, an Alabama attorney with the international law firm Bradley Arant who helped bring Panasonic to De Soto.
The Kansas City area wasn’t initially a contender for Fiserv, Leath said.
“What I saw first and foremost — what I do see — is the quality of the people, the work ethic of the people,” Leath told the economic development committee. “This is a company that expects people to be in the office five days a week, … and Kansans struck me as people who would enjoy that, or embrace that.”
Overland Park beat out Nashville, Phoenix, Dallas, Fort Worth, Atlanta and the South Florida area in the company’s search.
Republican U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran and Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids lauded the deal.
“Kansas continues to attract top-tier businesses, and I look forward to welcoming Fiserv to Overland Park,” Moran said.
The governor said the new hub is making good on her administration’s promise to “modernize and diversify” the state’s economy.
“Fiserv’s new strategic hub in Overland Park is a significant step forward as we continue to elevate Kansas to new heights,” Kelly said. “Fiserv will create high-value career options, including opportunities for military personnel transitioning to civilian life and graduates of our higher education system.”
Fiserv chose Overland Park, the announcement said, because of its central location in the United States, proximity to clients in the Midwest, affordable cost of living and the opportunity to recruit talent in the tech field.
Tim Cowden, president and CEO of the Kansas City Area Development Council, called the investment “monumental.”
He added: “And so is the Kansas City region’s ability to deliver.”
The Kansas City area has the capacity and competitiveness to rise to the occasion, he said, which he attributed to a “fast-growing tech sector,” a cache of talent and a prosperous, collaborative business community.