Business View Magazine | March 2020

325 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MARCH 2020 L I BERTY , MI SSOUR I Theatres to expand. B&B was a tenant in the old complex where Liberty Commons is now located. Johnson notes, “It’s a family-owned theatre with locations across the nation and we are pleased that they stayed in the Liberty community, building a new, state of the art theatre. They are currently in the process of building company HQ offices adjacent to the theatre– the owner is a Liberty resident and quite involved in the community.” The Liberty Commons and B&B Theatres developments are assisted by the city in terms of either Tax Increment Financing or Chapter 100 Tax Abatement, and both projects have gone above and beyond expectations and revenue projections. The City of Liberty has a strong industrial base, Mayor Lyndell Brenton reports, “We are adding about one million square feet of industrial space in the south part of the city and an 180,000-sq.- ft. building is proposed on property that the city owns in a larger industrial park on the north side of Liberty. In addition to that, we are working with KC Tech Academy to provide training for students and existing employees to improve the labor force in the Metro area. Eventually, KC Tech Academy will build its own state of the art facility here in Liberty. Two of Liberty’s largest industrial employers are the Ford Stamping Plant, providing close to 400 jobs, and Magna International that builds automotive systems for Ford and GM and employs about 700 people.” In the last five years, the city has invested heavily in its infrastructure - roads, sewers, water, as well as parks. Some projects have recently been completed, while others are in progress. Three of the interchanges that feed the city have undergone upgrades. The first, the interchange at I-35 and Hwy 291 was upgraded five years ago; the second, at I-35 and South Liberty Parkway in Liberty’s neighboring Pleasant Valley, was completed in 2016, then in 2018 South Liberty Parkway was extended