[CPEO-MEF] New development plan for Sunflower site stirs officials

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New development plan for Sunflower site stirs officials
By JOHN L. PETTERSON
The Kansas City Star
 
Cherokee Investment Partners:  http://www.cherokee-llc.com/index.htm
 
Kessinger/Hunter & Co.:  http://www.kessingerhunter.com/
 
Wizards Bank:  http://www.bankbv.com/company_profile.html
 
TOPEKA - Top Kansas officials will review new plans to develop the 
former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant near De Soto and make 
recommendations for the site to Gov. Bill Graves.
 
The developers, Kessinger/Hunter & Co. of Kansas City and its partner, 
Cherokee Investment Partners of Raleigh, N.C., made it clear at the 
outset that they had no interest in building a theme park and would not 
seek tax-supported financing.
 
Generally the project would include residential and commercial sections, 
including a community-in-a-park plan -- adopted by the
Johnson County Commission in 1998 -- for a 2,800-acre section of the 
site.
 
In a letter to Graves, Chuck Hunter, a principal in Kessinger/Hunter, 
said the developers would plan to donate "very substantial acreage" for 
parks, schools and higher education.
 
"We look forward to working with them and to learning more about their 
plans to donate land for public use," Graves said in a news release 
Tuesday.
 
Graves said in a letter to Hunter: "Your proposal has created a 
favorable reaction from key state agencies.
 
"I am hopeful that the efforts to put the Sunflower Army Ammunition 
Plant back into economic production can be brought to a prompt and 
fruitful close," he added.
 
The 9,000-plus-acre site was the proposed location for an $861 million 
Wonderful World of Oz theme park and resort before the project was 
rejected by county commissioners last year.
 
Hunter said Tuesday that Oz Entertainment Co., which wanted to build the 
theme park, was not involved in the development proposal. He said, 
however, that Robert Kory, who headed Oz Entertainment, was working for 
the developers' attorneys "doing some cleanup for our law firm. But he's 
not working for us."
 
As for Oz, Hunter told Graves in his June 4 letter that it would be 
worthwhile to remove any unresolved issues.
 
Total story located at:
 
 http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/3448952.htm

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