Credit where it’s due: Spencer Fane law firm spends $5.5 million on its downtown offices, doesn’t ask public for help

The Kansas City Business Journal earlier this week wrote a story about how Spencer Fane Britt & Browne invested $5.5 million into expanding and renovating its leased office space at 10th Street and Walnut.

The story made no mention about whether one of Kansas City’s largest law firms tapped the public dole to defray part of the expense. Kansas City companies, particularly large professional-services employers like law firms that carry well-paid jobs that politicians covet, have easy access to a variety of incentive programs that direct public funds to the employer as a means of keeping them in town.

The absence of discussion of incentives in the Spencer Fane story brought to mind three possible scenarios:

1. The reporter forgot to ask.
2. The reporter did ask but did not receive a response.
3. Spencer Fane paid for the improvements itself.

In this case, the correct answer is No. 3.

Pat Whalen, chairman of the Spencer Fane firm, tells The Pitch in an e-mail that the firm neither sought nor received any public inducements. That was confirmed by Bob Langenkamp, CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, and Amy Susan, spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Economic Development — two places that the firm could turn to for taxpayer help.

A few relatively recent developments have occurred downtown without the help of taxpayer subsidy, including a new hotel under construction at 16th Street and Main.

Companies are frequently criticized in the local media for threatening relocations to leverage public subsidies when the need for them is tenuous.

It only makes sense to then also point out instances when companies pay their own way.