KANSAS SITE FIGHT: TAX BREAK APPROVED

Tax break approval given for revamped Wal-Mart location [Kansas City Star]

“This is a baby step to us getting energy back at U.S. 40 and (Missouri) 7.”

| Councilman Ron Fowler

A plan for redeveloping the old Wal-Mart site in Blue Springs and expansion of a nearby Hy-Vee grocery using tax-increment financing was approved Monday.

Officials said it will boost commerce at the intersection of U.S. 40 and Missouri 7.

The City Council held public hearings on a $4.2 million TIF proposed by R.H. Johnson Company, which owns the two sites totaling 25 acres. The Wal-Mart is near the southeast corner of U.S. 40 and Missouri 7 and the Hy-Vee is near the northeast. A former Kmart and other buildings east of Missouri 7 are not part of the TIF.

The council unanimously approved a development agreement for the TIF plan and the Wal-Mart site. The final approval of the Hy-Vee phase is to be voted on later.

Bob Johnson, president of the company, said that vacancies near the intersection showed the need for an infusion of city support. He said the company had tried to find ways to improve the area on its own, but that wasn’t financially feasible.

In the former Wal-Mart, a vacant Kmart, White Oak Plaza and the Mall at Fall Creek, there is a total of about 219,000 square feet of vacant retail space, he said.

“This demonstrates the need for some strategic investment,” Johnson said.

Brien Starner, president of the Blue Springs Economic Development Corporation, said the organization’s executive board endorses the project. He said Johnson was well-recognized nationally.

The company plans $22 million of improvements. The $4.2 million TIF will help with facade improvements for the Wal-Mart building and renovations. They include providing space for up to six businesses, overlaying the parking lot and creating pad sites for a local restaurant and bank.

The Westlake Ace Hardware store already in the building will stay.

Hy-Vee also will get a face-lift and expansion of 4,000 square feet. A Hy-Vee convenience store with gas pumps also will be added to the grocery.

Starner said the improvements are necessary to stabilize the intersection. He said the new owner of the Kmart property and other developers are “looking at what the city does in supporting redevelopment” before deciding on how to invest.

Construction of all the U.S. 40 and Missouri 7 TIF projects are to be completed by 2009.

The city’s consultant, Tom Kaleko of Springsted Inc., testified that the firm’s analysis agrees that without a TIF the project wasn’t likely to occur.

Under the plan, R.H. Johnson will pay for the improvements up front and then be reimbursed by the TIF. The school district will get 10 percent of the new property tax “increment” created by the renovations.

“This is a baby step to us getting energy back at U.S. 40 and 7,” Councilman Ron Fowler said.