Golf Courses Make Way for Industrial Parks

Golf courses have in many ways gone out of style, but the nation’s industrial boom means developers can find productive uses for these sites.

NorthPoint’s development will make a vacant Missouri golf course economically active again.

KANSAS CITY, MO—Golf courses have in many ways gone out of style, but the nation’s industrial boom means developers can find productive uses for these sites. The market is especially hot in the Midwest, making it even easier to transform the region’s courses.

This morning, NorthPoint Development will break ground on its $105 million Southview Commerce Center, an industrial campus that will replace the Southview Golf Course in Belton, MO, a Kansas City suburb.

The event takes place at 16001 S. Outer Rd. and will feature officials from the Riverside, MO-based NorthPoint, along with municipal leaders and other local lawmakers. The Belton City Council approved the plan for a 148-acre industrial campus by an 8-1 vote earlier this year.

“The former Southview Golf Course has been vacant for more than a decade, and this business park is a strategic economic development win for the city,” says Alexa Barton, Belton’s city manager. She estimates the project will create 1,400 jobs with a potential annual wage impact of $58 million.

At full buildout, the new center will include five buildings totaling more than two million square feet of light manufacturing, warehouse and distribution space. Located just east of I-49 between 155th St. and 162nd St., the buildings will range from 235,000 to 622,000 square feet.

“Southview Commerce Center’s strategic north/south location along I-49 in the heart of the country is a great play for a variety of users,” says Brent Miles, NorthPoint’s vice president of development. “Demand continues to be strong for light industrial and warehouse and distribution facilities in the Kansas City market.”