New plans for Mission Gateway aim to restart long-troubled project from ‘square one’
A new plan aims to jump start the long-troubled Mission Gateway development a month after it missed a critical construction milestone, forcing its developers back to “some version of square one” almost 16 years after the project first began.
Should Mission city leaders agree to pursue the newest iteration of the long-running redevelopment plan this spring, developer Tom Valenti suggested construction could resume as soon as the beginning of 2023 — almost three years after work stopped on the property.
But city officials frustrated by years of false starts appeared to remain skeptical during Valenti’s first pitch of the new version of the project this week.
“I think it is important and fair to acknowledge that there is a level of frustration and disappointment from both council and from our constituents about the false starts and long delays this project has experienced over the years,” Mayor Sollie Flora said. “I think it’s also fair to say we had all hoped to be attending a ribbon cutting for the project this past December, but unfortunately that’s not where we are ... We find ourselves in the unenviable position of being back to some version of square one as we consider changes in the physical components of the project and a revised request for incentives.”
The new $268 million proposal for the beleaguered redevelopment of the former Mission Center Mall now includes 372 apartments, more than double the number of previous proposals, and scaled back versions of the food hall and retail portions of the plan that were pitched as major draws to the Johnson Drive and Roe Avenue area.
The proposal also includes a 202-room hotel, a 100,000-square-foot office or medical facility and a promise that 75 of the new apartments would be affordable housing units rented at below-market rates, according to the plans submitted by Valenti, of The Cameron Group in New York.
The group also will ask the city to divert 2% of sales tax generated on the property to the developer, up from 1% in the previous proposal, in addition to the property, hotel and sales tax incentives previously offered for the project.
Valenti pitched the new plan to Mission city leaders for the first time this week since his last development agreement with the city expired at the end of 2021 after virtually no construction took place at the long-vacant site since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic almost two years ago.
“We are committed to this project, we are going to see it to completion, it is going to be a great success,” Valenti told council members at a work session Wednesday night. “I can assure you we’ve been as frustrated as you, but this is a great project in a great area.”
City council members peppered Valenti and team with questions about the new plans, revised construction schedules, problems with the current fencing around the mostly vacant site and the viability of the large building and other concrete and rebar footings that have been exposed to the elements over the past two years.
Engineers will inspect the construction already done on the site and identify any work necessary to repair it, but the group does intend to use everything already constructed at the site in the final product, said Andy Ashwal, who is working with Valenti’s group and is vice president and senior asset manager at GFI Capital Resources Group Inc. Cinergy Entertainment is still committed to its 90,000 square foot building already partially built there and plans to complete its facility as part of the first phase of construction under the new plans.
The Mission Gateway project has been dogged by construction delays and financing issues, both before and after the pandemic began, including at least a dozen liens filed by contractors claiming they were not paid for their work and the developers falling behind on more than $356,000 in property taxes at one point last year. Those issues have left some new city leaders reluctant to continue working with Valenti’s group on the project, but Valenti has long maintained that it is committed to seeing it through.
The presentation this week was a prelude to the full city planning review process Valenti’s group must undergo this spring to establish a new development agreement after the lapse of the last one at the New Year. The review will include a full re-examination by planning staff, the city Planning Commission and ultimately the City Council of every aspect of the development plans and proposed changes to the incentives package.
“I have invested a great deal of my life savings in this project,” Valenti said this week. “I would like the chance at least to get back something of it and, if not, then my next priority is to help my partner get back the 10 times as much as he’s invested in this project.
“But those are motivations as a businessperson ... The highest priority for me is the fact that I’ve promised people on this city council, prior members of the city council and people who have become my good friends over the past 15 years that we were going to see this project to its completion in a way we can all be proud of,” he continued. “We intend to do that.”
