New life for Great Mall of the Plains property
Two years after the Great Mall of the Great Plains in Olathe succumbed to the wrecking ball, a Salt Lake City-based company has unveiled a $271 million mixed-use project that will replace the retail behemoth with offices, restaurants, apartments and a 4,000-seat arena and ice hockey center.
Woodbury Corporation on Tuesday announced plans for the project, to be called Mentum, adding that it is under contract to buy the 100-acre site at Interstate 35 and 151st Street from current owners VanTrust Real Estate LLC.
The developers said the project would include 250,000 square feet of entertainment, retail and restaurant space, two hotels, 300 apartment units and 200,000 square feet of office and medical office space.
The arena and community ice center would serve as the project’s centerpiece, providing a home for the Kansas City Youth Hockey Association and space for year-round youth hockey tournaments, as well as being available for concerts and other events.
Joshua Woodbury, the company’s vice president for acquisitions, told the Olathe City Council Tuesday night that his family’s company has been working on this project for more than a year and that “our real goal here is creating a mixed-use village.”
He also said the project will require significant public assistance.
“If we can truly create a public-private partnership in the sense and have the city of Olathe participate to build this village together, this will be a truly unique project in the Kansas City metro area,” Woodbury told the council.
Woodbury said the company is seeking more than $69.5 million in incentives.
The biggest piece would come from a combination of STAR bonds and a special 1 percent community improvement district sales tax on the site.
STAR bonds allow developers to keep sales taxes generated on a site to pay for certain development expenses, provided that the project fosters tourism.
Woodbury said a feasibility study commissioned by the company estimated the arena and other programming on the site would attract more than 1.7 million visitors a year, including 580,000 from outside the area, and create more than 3,000 direct and indirect jobs.
He said the city of Olathe would end up owning the arena, although the facility would be operated by an affiliate of Loretto Sports Ventures LLC, which is owned by Lamar Hunt Jr., and also manages the Kansas City Mavericks hockey team in Independence.
James Arkell, with Loretto, said there is a big demand for ice hockey space in the Kansas City area and that the center would be packed with scheduled events from the first day it opens.
“What we intend to build should sustain us for the next five to 10 years,” Arkell said.
Other expected public incentives would include a 20-year tax increment financing agreement, which would allow developer to keep future gains in property tax revenue for the site, and industrial revenue bonds, which allow developers to avoid paying sales tax on construction materials. Woodbury didn’t detail how much the company hoped to generate from these two incentives.
The City Council must approve these incentives. City Attorney Rob Shaver detailed the project’s next steps, which include an Oct. 22 meeting of the city’s planning commission to determine if the project meets city codes and then a scheduled public hearing and final vote on the STAR bonds in December.
Other incentives would be brought up for votes later this year or early next year.
Woodbury said that if everything goes to plan, the company expects “an aggressive but appropriate timeline” that would have construction of the first of three phases on the project beginning next May and the arena opening in late 2020 or early 2021.
Members of the council welcomed the news with Mayor Michael Copeland jokingly asking when to schedule the ribbon-cutting.
“We’re proud that you’ve invested in our community in a big way,” Copeland said. “I’ve learned that there’s a huge demand in this area for hockey. Parents are complaining that they’re picking up their kids at 11 at night or early in the morning for ice time. I think this will provide a great amenity for our community.”
Tim McKee, CEO of the Olathe Chamber of Commerce, said his organization has been trying to find a future for the Great Mall site even before the mall, which opened in 1997, closed in 2015 and was torn down in 2016.
He said the Mentum project will help nearby Olathe Medical Center, Garmin and other businesses attract and retain good employees who may want to live or shop in the new development as well as serve as a catalyst for additional development.
“From a quality of life standpoint, it just changes the direction of south Olathe,” McKee said. “Before, unfortunately, the Great Mall had a negative connotation to it. This is more positive and a different direction for that entire part of town. Quality development begets quality development around it.”
In other business, the council on Tuesday voted unanimously to buy 12 acres at 148th Street and Lakeshore Drive for a new fire station for $230,000 provide $7 million to build and equip the facility. Besides the fire station, the land will also be used for a new park.
City officials estimate the station will open in early 2021.
David Twiddy: dtwiddy913@gmail.com
This story was originally published October 23, 2018 at 6:42 PM with the headline "New life for Great Mall of the Plains property."