Earth is finally moving at Mission Gateway. But council is delaying one more thing

Preliminary site work is finally underway at the long-awaited Mission Gateway development, but the City Council has also approved a delay in the start of a tax incentive for the project.

Korb Maxwell, a Kansas City attorney working with the developer, told the City Council on Monday night that the required development milestones are being met. He said earth-moving equipment is working at the site bounded by Shawnee Mission Parkway, Johnson Drive and Roe Avenue.

“We plan to have the footings and foundation in before Oct. 31, and then there will be a continuous building process,” he told the Council.

The development agreement required New York-based Cameron Group to start work by Oct. 31 on the first of three phases of the $200 million project. That first phase is 170 market-rate apartment units in three buildings along Johnson Drive and Roeland Drive, with first-floor retail shops. Completion of that phase is expected in April 2020.

It’s the first tangible sign of progress after years of false starts. The former Mission Mall was demolished in 2005, but the 16-acre parcel has been vacant ever since.

In October 2017, the city council adopted an ordinance establishing a community improvement district, which was to impose a 1-cent sales tax on retail activity within the district to help pay development costs. At the time, the CID was to take effect Jan. 1, 2019 and last for 22 years.

But on Monday night, the council agreed to push the start date of that tax to July 1, 2020, to correspond with the time when retail activity will have started.

Councilwoman Sollie Flora had expressed reservations earlier this month about whether this extension would be seen as giving tacit approval to yet another project delay. City officials responded that the CID tax, whatever the timetable, goes to the development and does not affect the city’s revenues. So extending the deadline is neutral on the city’s budget.

Flora said Monday she had discussed her concerns with city staff, and “those concerns have been assuaged.”

However, she said this extension should not be perceived in any way “as sort of a shot to extend other things on the project.”

Councilwoman Hillary Parker Thomas and other council members agreed with that assessment.

Still, Mission resident Joshua Sturgis urged the council to hold off.

He pointed out that the developer had only paid off $2 million in back taxes in July and said there’s still reason for skepticism that Mission Gateway will ever really succeed.

“We want proof that this is a viable project going forward,” Sturgis said. “It makes sense to hit pause on this. Wait six weeks and see if they are pouring concrete per the development agreement.”

City Administrator Laura Smith said time is of the essence, since the state of Kansas needs to be notified of any CID tax change by the end of September, to publish updated information on its website for a Jan. 1 implementation date.

In addition to the taxes being paid, Smith noted that the city has issued a building permit for phase I and is meeting regularly with the contractor. Lenexa-based Neighbors Construction is the general contractor and Emery Sapp & Sons is doing the site work.

She said phase 1 is currently being built with the developer’s equity money and no city dollars are currently being spent. The city did not guarantee the bonds on the project.

The development’s second phase is expected to include two hotels and a parking garage. The third phase would involve a 75,000-square-foot office building and a food hall at Johnson Drive and Roe Avenue.