Business View Magazine | March 2020

323 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MARCH 2020 L I BERTY , MI SSOUR I and seven individual properties on the National Register of Historic Places, a thriving historic downtown business district, three museums, and many notable sites of interest. In addition, Liberty has been very aggressive regarding development within the city. Karan Johnson, Director of Economic Development for Liberty, recounts, “We are somewhat of a bedroom community of Kansas City metropolitan area and over the last five to seven years, we’ve added a lot of new residential growth to our community. One is Copper Ridge – a 300-unit upscale apartment complex, featuring one- and two-bedroom units with all the amenities. That was just completed last year and is now 96-percent leased. We are now concentrating on bringing in all levels of single-family. One development we have right now is called Homestead, consisting of 127 single-family homes in the $500,000 to $600,000 price range; the highest we have ever seen in Liberty. Phase two of that development, Homestead Hills, will townspeople time to reach the dock before the boat arrived. Another tidbit for historic trivia buffs, the Clay County Savings Bank, now the Jesse James Bank Museum, was the site of the first successful daylight bank robbery – February 13, 1866 – allegedly committed by the James- Younger Gang. A suburb of Kansas City within the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the City of Liberty has forged an impressive identity all its own. Since 2005, the National Arbor Day Foundation has recognized Liberty’s commitment to the management of its community forest with the Tree City USA designation. In 2007, Liberty was designated a Preserve America community – a White House program to support communities that preserve and promote America’s cultural and natural heritage. Today, Liberty continues to embrace residential and commercial development, while maintaining its strong sense of history. The city is home to five local historic districts, seven nationally recognized districts