‘We’ve got to start all over again.’ What now for JoCo’s ill-fated Mission Gateway?
It’s back to the drawing board for Mission Gateway, an ambitious but ill-fated development planned for a prime Johnson County location.
The $200 million project at the site of the former Mission Center Mall has faced numerous obstacles since the mall was demolished in 2006. Now, months of delays have cost the developer millions in city incentives that were viewed as crucial to the project. Tom Valenti with New York’s Cameron Group will forfeit the tax subsidies for the project once his development agreement with the city expires on Friday.
“We acknowledge and share the frustration of our residents with respect to this project,” Mission Mayor Sollie Flora said in a recent city news release. “Our top priority in any renegotiation will be protecting the City’s interests.”
Valenti said he will bring forward a new development plan sometime next year.
“The project is going forward,” he told The Star.
But it’s unclear what reception another plan from Valenti would receive among city leaders, who have grown frustrated over his years of unmet promises.
Construction finally began in 2020 after years of delays. But it abruptly stopped amid the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Contractors then filed at least a dozen liens against the developer claiming they were not paid for their work. And in June, the developer was in default after failing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes.
The semi-completed structures at the site have sat vacant since.
Before her election, Flora told The Star she wanted to see a new developer take over the project.
“At this point, with the latest notice of default, the latest delays and lack of communication, it’s pretty clear to me now the developer can’t get it done,” Flora said in June as she ran for mayor. “Ideally, I’d like to see the developer move on, sell the project and let us deal with someone who is committed to being a trustworthy partner.”
Flora did not respond to a request for comment this week.
In its latest iteration, Mission Gateway was proposed as a mixed-use project with food, retail and entertainment. The developer had secured a lease with Cinergy Entertainment to build a 90,000-square-foot complex with 10 movie theaters, a bowling alley, zip lines and more. Also in the works were apartments, a 200-room Marriott Element hotel and a 40,000-square-foot food hall curated by celebrity chef Tom Colicchio.
In its development agreement, the city committed special tax revenues to repay $28 million in special obligation bonds it pledged to the developer. The developer also would have received surplus revenues after the bonds are paid in full, which in 2017 were estimated to be about $8.4 million over six to eight years.
But those subsidies were contingent upon The Cameron Group substantially completing construction by the end of 2021. And that hasn’t happened.
In a news release last week, city officials noted that the expiration of the agreement didn’t give Mission ownership or control of the privately owned site.
“Ongoing conversations with the developer indicate they intend to return with a new plan in 2022,” the news release said.
City Administrator Laura Smith on Wednesday said “there is nothing new to report.”
For now, the site at Shawnee Mission Parkway, Johnson Drive and Roe Avenue is home to an incomplete parking garage with exposed staircases. A structure has risen with bright, white walls. But nearby, support columns jut out of the ground, bearing no weight.
Valenti purchased the property in 2005 and the mall met the wrecking ball the following year.
Since then, Valenti has floated several ideas but faced continued challenges. Those included the collapse of capital markets during the Great Recession and community backlash to several iterations of the plan, like building a Walmart, which was once planned as the anchor retail tenant.
Though he acknowledged he would need another development agreement, Valenti said Mission Gateway will move forward. He said the project struggled to secure financing in the early months of 2020.
“Everything came to a screeching halt” when the pandemic began, he said. “So now we’ve got to start all over again.”
But Valenti said his group now has financing “lined up.” Though some tweaks are possible, he said he plans a similar mixed-use development for his next pitch to the city. Valenti said he’s waiting to hear back from city leaders on negotiating a new plan.
“We’ll have to have a new development agreement,” he said. “...but it’s all good.”
Valenti has made similar assurances in the more than 16 years he’s owned the property.
A decade ago, as residents were growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress on the project, Valenti made a pledge to city officials.
“You know, it’s taken a long, long time,” he said during a 2011 news conference. “I remember someone at one of these previous meetings was recounting the history of my development experience. And they were saying that my one major development project outside of New York City took 16 years, and hopefully this one won’t take 16 years.
“I promise you now, it’s not going to take 16 years,” he said then.
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
