DE SOTO, Kan. — Just yards away from the iconic De Soto water towers sits the new Panasonic plant. Still under construction but expected to open in 2025, the manufacturing plant is making waves in the small town.
“We have noticed an increase of traffic around town but also traffic in the shop,” said resident Tara Stucky.
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Tara Stucky owns Cause Coffee in downtown De Soto. She sees the changes and hears what people think about them.
“With the potential for growth like Panasonic is bringing to De Soto, you’re going to have a whole bunch of different opinions,” Stucky said.
The Sunflower Ammunition Plant land used to employ more than 10,000 people but has sat mostly vacant for decades.
“It's taking a job center that had provided jobs to this area for a long time, gone away and it's bringing them back,” said De Soto Mayor Rick Walker.
Walker explained that approving the project came with careful consideration.
“We've been very thoughtful about what might happen out of Sunflower," Walker said. "It was this looming thing that might impact us, and we took the position that we want to be part of the plan."
Similarly, City Administrator Mike Brungardt said the Army once chose that area intentionally.
“There's a reason that the Army in the 1940s selected this site for an advanced manufacturing facility; it's great for that,” he said.
Brungardt and Walker also said the project opens doors for De Soto's future.
“Ten years down the road, 15 years down the road, we will have resources to allow us to offer benefits to our community, amenities to the community that otherwise we would, as a small town of 6,000, we would have never been able to provide,” Walker said.
Amenities and changes Tara Stucky plans to embrace.
“Sometimes when you have a good thing, it’s okay to share that," she said. "I think De Soto will always feel the same town that it has, it’s just going to feel bigger."
Panasonic will only take up 300 acres of a 9,000-acre plot owned by Sunflower Redevelopment Group. Some land will go to Johnson County Parks and Recreation and some to a solar facility.
There are still thousands of acres that De Soto hopes to transform into a larger manufacturing hub.
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