photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The Henry T's building is pictured near Sixth Street and Kasold Drive on June 5, 2023.

Some news and notes from around town:

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The only thing standing between me and a fresh-baked treat is a city permit. No, both I and a city clerk somewhere are thankful there’s no such thing as a pastry permit. Instead, a new bakery is planned for west Lawrence, but its proposed home first needs to win a city permit for a drive-thru.

Plans have been filed to convert the former Henry T’s building at 3530 W. Sixth Street into a bakery that will serve everything from luncheon sandwiches on fresh bread to warm cinnamon rolls to get your day off to a sticky start, Lawrence businessman Don Greenfield told me.

Greenfield’s daughter, Lacey Dye, is an experienced local, commercial baker who wants to have her own shop. The former Henry T’s location is right next door to Greenfield’s longtime business, the Westridge Wash & Lube. Greenfield has already bought the former bar and restaurant building, but the deal for a bakery isn’t yet a done one.

“If we don’t get the drive-thru, we will completely shift gears,” Greenfield told me. “A drive-thru is so important for a restaurant, especially since Covid.”

City officials currently are reviewing a development plan application that would allow for a drive-thru to be built on the west side of the building, where a large patio currently exists. Plans call for the building to get a new covered patio and outdoor seating area on the front side of the building.

The bakery is expected to have a mix of fresh-baked breads and sweets, Greenfield said. He said his daughter is particularly interested in getting into the decorated cake business, in addition to having strong breakfast and lunch menus.

The business — a name hasn’t yet been selected — would also devote a good amount of its space to a party room and small conference area. Greenfield, a longtime Lawrence resident, said the current plans call for a portion of the building to house a room that could accommodate about 60 people for everything from birthday parties, class reunions or business meetings.

The old Henry T’s space — the bar and restaurant closed after 32 years in business — has already been gutted. Greenfield said that if the project wins development plan approval in the near future, he hopes to have the bakery open by the Christmas holiday season.

“I have about eight guys raring to go,” Greenfield said of future construction plans.

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photo by: John English/Journal-World

The Panasonic battery plant in De Soto is pictured on Sept. 9, 2024.

We go from bakeries to batteries. Unless the battery powers a cookie conveyor belt to my driver’s-side window, I know which one I’m more excited about. Nonetheless I did read an interesting report that puts into perspective how large the Panasonic electric battery plant in De Soto is for the regional economy.

In short, it says the Kansas City metro area has become the fastest growing industrial city in the entire midwest, largely due to the Panasonic plant. According to a new report from the real estate journal Commercial Search, the amount of industrial construction underway in Kansas City makes it the seventh busiest city in the country for industrial projects. It holds the top spot for all of middle America.

Kansas City only trails Savannah, Georgia, Dallas-Fort Worth, Phoenix, Houston, Austin, and Memphis in terms of the amount of industrial space under construction in 2025, according to the report.

The Kansas City metro will have 11.2 million square feet of industrial space under construction in 2025. The Panasonic plant at the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant in De Soto accounts for 4.7 million square feet of that total.

The Panasonic plant currently is the third largest industrial project under construction in the entire U.S., the report found.

Construction has been underway for more than a year, and one part of the plant is expected to soon open. In January, we reported that Kansas officials believed that battery production at a portion of the plant would begin this month. Panasonic has been tight-lipped about its production schedule, and there has been no announcement that production has yet begun at the site.

But the company in January said it had 400 employees hired, and expected to have 1,000 in place by the summer.

Even once production begins, construction is expected to continue into 2025. The huge De Soto plant — you could fit the Eiffel Tower in the building if you placed it on its side — has two wings. Only the first wing is nearing completion. Once both wings are open, the plant is expected to employ 4,000 people.

The fact that the Panasonic plant is huge isn’t new information, but the latest report provided some perspective — and an opportunity to speculate. As I noted, the plant is the third largest industrial project under construction in America. The two projects larger than the Panasonic plant are both electric vehicle manufacturing plants.

Kansas officials have acknowledged that one of their ultimate goals is have an auto company located an entire vehicle manufacturing plant next to the Panasonic battery plant. The site certainly has the room for it. Panasonic is occupying only a portion of the 9,000-acre site that housed the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant, which used to employ 12,000 people in its heyday.

The report by Commercial Search provided some perspective about just how large an electric vehicle plant could be for the area. The largest industrial project currently underway in the U.S. is Hyundai’s plant in the Savannah metro. It checks in at 17 million square feet, or roughly four-times larger than the Panasonic plant. Second on the list is Ford’s Blue Oval City plant in the Memphis metro. It measures 10 million square feet.

In case you are keeping score at home, five of the largest 10 — and four of the largest five — projects in America are related to electric vehicles. The Trump administration — and a lack of charging stations — have created questions about whether actual sales of electric vehicles will boom as expected. That in turn creates questions about the likelihood of the De Soto area landing a vehicle manufacturing plant. Nonetheless, this latest report by Commercial Search serves as a good reminder of the stakes.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The Panasonic battery plant in De Soto is pictured on Jan. 17, 2025.