ROELAND PARK, Kan. — “Mission Impossible” is what Roeland Park city leaders have to say about the Gateway project planned for the former Mission Mall site in neighboring Mission, Kansas.
Mission Mall was demolished in 2006, and since then Mission has been trying to redevelop the site.
Earlier this month developers announced a plan to build The Kansas Aquarium, an upscale hotel, a fitness center and a Walmart Supercenter along with office and residential space. But the project hinges on millions of dollars of STAR Bonds.
Under the deal, developers would pay off the bonds by collecting the sales tax revenue generated by the Gateway project.
But the project may not work without a Walmart and that’s where Roeland Park comes in, as Roeland Park doesn’t want to lose its Walmart.
“We’d lose a large chunk somewhere between half or more than half of our sales tax revenue so it’s significant,” said Roeland Park City Council president Bob Myers.
Roeland Park has sent the Kansas Department of Commerce saying under state law STAR bonds can’t be used to finance a project if doing so would adversely affect a neighboring city. Walmart has made it clear that it would close the Roeland Park store and build a new Walmart Supercenter in Mission less than a mile away, if developers get the STAR bonds they’re seeking.
The mayor and city manager of Mission did not responds to Fox 4’s request for comment. But local retailers like Cathy Cardozo, who owns Paradise Valley Floral on Johnson Drive, says she want to see the old mall redeveloped.
“We’ve been waiting for years for that to happen and now to have Roeland Park come in here and try to stop it again, make it another few years before something could happen that’s very frustrating,” said Cardozo.
The Kansas Department of Commerce is expected to announce it’s decision in about 60 days.
