No, Kansas City’s new Ferris wheel didn’t get tax breaks — but the development around it might

The new Pennway Point entertainment district, which makes use of space that sat empty for years as industrial storage, is already making some neighbors in the Westside neighborhood uneasy. Developers are building the project without using tax money, but say they plan to seek incentives for the years ahead.
Seemingly overnight, residents and drivers on I-35 awoke to a new addition to the Kansas City skyline: a Ferris wheel.

The 150-foot wheel is how many people found out about the Pennway Point development that’s being constructed on the eastern edge of the Westside — a project that’s been in the works for years but not highly publicized until recently.

The former industrial site will include three acres of family-friendly entertainment with an additional three acres of parking, mostly under the bridges of I-35 and Broadway that surround the district.

Plans for Pennway Point include mini-golf, an alley filled with rescued neon signs, sand volleyball courts, yard games, seasonal ice skating, about 10 restaurants with space for food trucks, and, of course, the massive Ferris wheel.