A once-bustling Kansas community, designed as a temporary home for hundreds of World War II munitions workers, has fallen into disrepair in recent years.
Now you have a new threat: a $4 billion 21st century plant in your backyard.
The small hamlet of 500 people in Clearview Village sits across the street from a Panasonic electric vehicle battery facility set to open in 2025. The massive plant outside De Soto, Kansas, further threatens its thriving community.
Residents say that, despite assurances from the village’s current owner, they fear their homes could be torn down to make way for parking or future developments to support the plant.
“It’s a gold mine,” resident Ron Buerman, 28, told Kansas City Star. “Basically what I think they’re going to do is this is going to be a fucking parking lot for Panasonic or apartments.”
Clearwater Village, a neighborhood in De Soto, Kansas, is under a new threat: a new $4 billion Panasonic plant that is under construction.
The Village, once its own town, opened in 1943, but has declined in recent years as the houses struggled with maintenance.
Now residents of the town fear that the plant under construction (pictured) could pose a greater threat to their home.
Artistic representation of the plant when its construction is completed in 2025.
He points to the village’s current state of disrepair as evidence of owner David Rhodes’ plans to sell or redevelop the land himself.
—I mean that one is empty. That one has a hole. That’s a vacancy,” he said, pointing to the houses.
‘People now say, “Oh, well, this is the end.” They are trying to stay here and crouch here as long as possible. People say, “Look, if we’re not going to be here anymore, why am I paying rent?”
The Panasonic plant is currently under construction on the site of the former munitions factory that first attracted people to the area in the days of World War II.
Opened as ‘Sunflower Village’ in 1943, the settlement provided housing for workers at the nearby Girasol Ordnance Works, which became the largest smokeless powder and propellant plant after Pearl Harbor.
Initial construction consisted of 175 concrete buildings housing 852 apartments and was orchestrated by the federal government.
Wartime restrictions meant that houses were scarce, with basic finishes including cabinets without doors and refrigerators without metal.
Opened as ‘Sunflower Village’ in 1943, the settlement provided housing for workers at the nearby Girasol Ordnance Works, which became the largest smokeless powder and propellant plant after Pearl Harbor.
Initial construction was comprised of 175 concrete buildings housing 852 apartments and was orchestrated by the federal government.
The lot featured two ponds and victory gardens to allow residents to grow their own fruits and vegetables amid strict rationing. The offer was tempting and at its peak, Girasol Village housed more than 6,000 people.
With the arrival of more and more residents, the town’s bar, restaurant, grocery store, beauty salon, barber shop, and more were introduced.
As demand increased, the government was forced to transport another 680 prefabricated wooden structures from Niagara Falls, New York, which soon wore out.
After World War II, the town housed returning veterans and students from the University of Kansas.
The ordnance factory enjoyed a resurgence during the Korean War, before employment rates fell at the end of the conflict. As the factory closed operations, more and more locals left and the settlement was sold to its first private buyer.
By that time, all but nine houses in the once vibrant village had been boarded up.
Oklahoma developer Louis H. Ensley pledged to make the city livable again, hoping to attract potential tenants with cheap rents.
After World War II, the town housed returning veterans and students from the University of Kansas.
The village experienced a brief resurgence during the Korean War, but residents fled the area in the following years thanks to increased crime.
But the village was soon hit by rising crime rates, meaning many of its 1,800 occupants soon left again.
Over the years, the town changed hands numerous times and was the subject of a huge clean-up operation after the munitions factory closed its doors in 1992.
Today, Clearview is home to long-time renters and families who enjoy affordable rentals.
A one-bedroom property costs around $760 for monthly rent, while two beds cost around $1,050.
Omar Bonilla, 42, told the KC Star that his two-bedroom home, which he shares with his wife and three children, was recently rocked by construction at the Panasonic facility, causing cracks on his property.
“When they did that, the whole house started shaking,” he said. His wife Marbella added that now “there are many insects inside the house.”
For his part, Rhodes acknowledges the sorry state of many of the properties on his land, but has insisted that he plans to “rehabilitate” his tenants’ homes.
“We listed it on the National Register of Historic Places,” he said. ‘And the purpose is to preserve and rehabilitate it. Our desire, if we can get the help of the state of Kansas and the city of De Soto, will be to do a major rehabilitation.’
Over the years, the town changed hands numerous times and was the subject of a huge clean-up operation after a munitions factory closed its doors in 1992.
Residents say that, despite assurances from the village’s current owner, they fear their homes could be torn down to make way for parking or future developments to support the plant.
Omar Bonilla, 42, told the KC Star that his two-bedroom home, which he shares with his wife and three children, was recently shaken by construction at the Panasonic facility, causing cracks on his property.
The Panasonic plant is currently being built on the site of the former artillery factory.
The plant is being built outside of De Soto, Kansas.
It plans to gradually move tenants from its old apartments into newly renovated units.
Leaders in De Soto, which annexed Clearview into a neighborhood in 1998, also want to see improvements in the town.
Rhodes says he hopes to begin his development project at the site in 2025 with an emphasis on affordable housing rather than more industrial buildings to support the Panasonic plant.
“We’ve tried to be a conscientious owner,” he said. ‘It has no curb appeal. But when you come in, for the amount of square meters you have and the price you pay for rent, it is very affordable.
“The desire is to make the outside as good as the inside.”
