Incentive-laden Westbrooke redevelopment gets green light from Shawnee City Council

The future of the dilapidated Westbrooke Village shopping center is a little clearer after the Shawnee City Council approved plans Monday for a $113 million mixed-use redevelopment of the site.

Council members voted unanimously to rezone 32 acres on the northeast corner of 75th Street and Quivira Road for the project, which developers say will include five five-story apartment buildings containing around 530 residential units, an outdoor plaza, a multi-story parking garage and 108,500 square feet of space for restaurants and stores.

The council also approved almost $32 million in public incentives to help offset some of the development costs, although that subject generated more controversy than the project itself.

Supporters said the development, to be called Westbrooke Green, will finally solve the litany of problems with the shopping center, which was built in 1988 and lost its anchor grocery store, leading to a growing number of vacancies and vandalism.

Tammy Green, who lives near the shopping center, told the council that she was in favor of any project that brought more businesses to Shawnee to help reduce the property-tax burden on residents and businesses.

“I am all for it,” Green said. “I am very excited for the opportunity.”

Robert Sumner, on the other hand, echoed the worries other nearby residents have expressed in previous meetings, specifically that the scale of the development doesn’t fit with the single-family neighborhoods to the north and east of the property and that the development may lead to a dramatic increase in traffic and noise.

“We’re very happy that the area is going to be developed, it’s been blighted for too many years,” Sumner said. “I don’t believe a five-story apartment complex is appropriate for the area, though.”

The project is being pushed by MP Westbrooke North LLC, a joint venture of Kansas City-based real estate company Mission Peak Capital and New York-based Extell Development Company.

The developers have said they believe the project will fill a largely unmet need in the area for high-end living space for young professionals and “empty nesters.” They said the apartment units will include a number of luxury features that have become standard for recent construction, such as granite countertops, high ceilings and concierge-like customer service for tenants.

The retail space would include 11 new or renovated buildings for eateries and shops, including potentially a neighborhood grocery store. The current locations for Walgreen’s and Brotherhood Bank are not part of the development.

A park-like common area connecting the residential and commercial sections of the development would feature fountains and an amphitheater.

City officials had already planned to make improvements to the intersection of 75th Street and Quivira Road, but the developers have agreed to contribute $150,0000 toward improvements related to the project, as well as to add a traffic signal near the project’s northwest corner on Quivira Road.

As part of the development agreement, council members also agreed to provide a number of financial incentives.

The council voted 6-2 to provide up to $21.5 million in tax increment financing, or TIF. This economic development incentive will divert incremental gains in property and sales taxes on the site for up to 20 years back to the developers to pay for certain development expenses, such as buying the land and installing infrastructure.

The council also voted 6-2 to levy a special 1.5-percent community improvement district sales tax on businesses and services within the project for up to 22 years to reimburse another $10.4 million in certain development costs.

The developers also have requested up to $3.3 million in industrial revenue bonds, which the city is not obligated to repay. Developers typically buy the bonds through a local government to gain certain tax and interest-rate benefits.

Several residents criticized the incentives as being too generous, differing with a financial analyst from consulting firm Springsted Inc., who said the project would be harder to build without public assistance because it would likely generate a below-market return on investment.

They also claimed that the project would generate added police, fire and other costs for the city but revenue to help offset those costs would go to the developer.

“I’m kind of embarrassed for Shawnee, because I think that you’re being taken advantage of,” Tracy Thomas said. “If you vote on this tonight, it’s a new record for greed.”

Other speakers said the council should have delayed a vote on the project until after the first of the year when three new members are scheduled to replace outgoing council members Dan Pflumm, Jeff Vaught and Brandon Kenig.

“Every council member who votes for this should be able to be held accountable to the people of the city of Shawnee,” Ray Erlichman said.

The council itself was split on the issue, with Councilmen Eric Jenkins and Mike Kemmling voting against the incentives.

“I think we all agree that we’d like to grow the tax base for Shawnee, we’d like to see new business development, but we’d like to see that new business development contributing, so there’s actually something coming (in),” Jenkins said.

Other council members, however, noted that the shopping center has sat largely vacant for years and may remain that way if the city isn’t willing to help developers make a project work there financially.

“If there was ever a project custom-built for public incentives, it would be this project,” Kenig said.

The developers plan to build the project in two phases. The first phase, expected to be completed by October 2021, would remove most of the shopping center, install the green space and amphitheater and build three apartment buildings, the parking garage and 8,400 square feet of commercial space.

A second phase, building most of the rest of the residential and commercial space, would be completed by October 2024.

The project’s development agreement sets out a series of development “milestones” that MP Westbrooke must meet and says the city may reduce the amount of tax increment financing reimbursement to the company by 10 percent for each missed milestone.

If the development’s second phase is not substantially completed, the developers would also lose half of the sales-tax reimbursement.

David Twiddy: dtwiddy913@gmail.com

This story was originally published December 19, 2017 at 12:07 AM with the headline "Incentive-laden Westbrooke redevelopment gets green light from Shawnee City Council."