New owner closes on Metro North Shopping Center

Metro North Shopping Center has a new owner and a tentative new name.

IAS Partners Ltd. said it closed Tuesday on its deal to acquire the shopping center from MD Management. Financial terms were not disclosed. Officials with MD couldn’t be reached for comment.

IAS formed Metro North Crossing LLC to redevelop the enclosed mall and envisions replacing it with a new open-air center that will include local and national retailers, multifamily housing and maybe office spaces.

Spencer Thomson of Thomson Walker LLC, the attorney representing IAS Partners, said the closing date came quickly and now the hard work comes, the planning and analysis including layout, design, market needs, and the best candidates who are looking to expand in the area. IAS also plans to seek tax increment financing from the city and other incentives for the Metro North project.

IAS redeveloped two other major enclosed malls in Kansas City — Antioch Crossing and Blue Ridge Crossing. When the redevelopment of Metro North is completed the new center will most likely be called Metro North Crossing, Thomson said. No estimated opening date was available.

Metro North, at the high-traffic intersection of U.S. 169 and Barry Road, largely closed in April 2014. All that remains open today on the property are a Macy’s store and three restaurants along Barry Road. Macy’s, which owns its building, plans to stay in the mall.

But when Metro North opened in 1976, it was one of the nation’s new regional shopping centers. It covered a whopping 1.2 million square feet with several anchor department stores and more than 150 other retailers, restaurants and services. In its heyday, it drew shoppers from six surrounding counties and beyond.

It was a top draw for more than three decades but faced increasing competition from newer centers that located nearly, like Zona Rosa, which drew Metro North consumers as well as tenants such as anchor Dillard’s. Retail development in and around Liberty also has hurt Metro North.

Thomson said IAS could retain portions of the current mall, but much of the complex will be demolished, similar to how it redeveloped Antioch Crossing, formerly Antioch Center, which now includes a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. It also redeveloped Blue Ridge Mall into Blue Ridge Crossing, which counts Wal-Mart as an anchor tenant.

IAS Partners was founded in 1987 to manage and develop apartments, hotels, office buildings and retail centers in Kansas and Missouri. It now owns and manages 500,000 square feet of retail and office space, along with 1,500 apartments.

This story was originally published April 22, 2015 at 4:12 PM with the headline "New owner closes on Metro North Shopping Center."