KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The supply chain delays and long delivery waits for simple materials have been endured by millions of Americans since the pandemic started, including Linda Cohen at Cohen’s Art, Printing, and Framing in Platte City, Missouri.

The shirts she prints and embroiders are harder to get and they cost more to get there.

“They’ve jacked up shipping,” Cohen said. “Astronomical. I can order three shirts, for $25, and they have $45 shipping.”

It’s why she’s happy to hear about Hunt Midwest’s KCI 29 Logistics Park plans, which will eventually use 3,300 acres of farmland to build a megasite for industrial and/or manufacturing facility near KCI.

It creates a lot of opportunities for Hunt Midwest President and CEO Ora Reynolds, since the site already has infrastructure, a major highway interchange, and an airport nearby.

“When we went to the state, they basically said there is not another megasite in the state of Missouri with all those attributes,” Reynolds said.

It puts Kansas City on the map for the kind of investment or relocation sweepstakes that would rival Tesla’s $10 billion investment in Austin Texas and Intel’s recent $20 billion investment in Ohio, that comes with promises to expand that investment in the future.

“When large users are looking at the area, if there isn’t a megasite like this, they just fly over,” Reynolds said.

All that land allows companies to make, finish, ship, and store their materials all in one site. Hunt Midwest estimates there could eventually be around 9,000 jobs created.

For now, Hunt Midwest Senior Vice President of Industrial Real Estate Mike Bell says they’ll start small, developing part of the site and improving local roads.

“So it’ll be both,” Bell said. “We’ll do spec development for industrial and we’ll also work with the local economic development authorities and try to attract large manufacturers here to Kansas City.”