Site Attracts Renewed Interest

KANSAS CITY, MO - A group of Colorado investors was scheduled to close on an 88-acre development site in the Northland earlier this month. But in keeping with the troubled track record of the mixed-use site, christened Renaissance Village 10 years ago, its long-awaited revival has been delayed again.

The would-be buyer of what's now being called The Woods at Shoal Creek, U.S. Acquisition LLC, "is still trying to arrange the funds so they can close," said Pat Daniels, president of The Land Source. In the meantime, Daniels' company and Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, which are co-listing the foreclosed property for M&I Bank, have been instructed to look for a new buyer, he said.

The outcome is important for Kansas City, which remains on the hook for the $11 million in tax increment financing bonds approved in 2001 to finance the roads that loop through the dormant property. Tired of looking at those roads to nowhere, neighbors and Clay County economic development officials also are eager for a new, more charmed developer.

The original developer, Edgar Barth, sold because of illness in 2003 and died three years later. The Tax Increment Financing Commission of Kansas City terminated the development rights of Barth's successor, Kurt Degenhardt, last year, after the bank foreclosed. "This has been a saga and a half," Daniels said of the project. "When we first listed the property, 'Renaissance' did not have a great connotation in the marketplace."

But the story soon could have a happy ending for the Northland and Kansas City. U.S. Acquisition LLC, which is affiliated with Republic Financial Corp., based in Aurora, Colo., still may close, Daniels said. In addition, four or five other potential buyers have been attracted by the "tremendous opportunity," he said. "You're, in essence, buying developed property for less than raw land prices," Daniels said.

Listed for $9.78 million but expected to sell for less, the 88-acre site is fully developed with roads, sewers, water and street lighting. Just southeast of Maple Woods Community College, the property is bisected by Maple Woods Parkway, which is being extended to a nearby interchange with Missouri Highway 152. The property is zoned for 449,442 square feet of retail and office space north of Maple Woods Parkway and for 207 single-family homes south of the parkway.

Whoever buys the site, however, probably will rezone the 58-acre residential portion for multifamily construction because of the heavy traffic on Missouri Highway 1, which runs along the site's eastern edge, sources said.

Jennifer Nealson, a spokeswoman for Republic Financial Corp., confirmed that U.S. Acquisition had the former Renaissance site under contract. "We don't have a closing date set at this point, so I can't say much about it," Nealson said. "But it obviously would be an investment," meaning the company probably would resell rather than develop the site.

Republic Financial has invested in the Kansas City area before. In 2005, it acquired Identity Now Inc., the Overland Park-based parent of promotional products company American Identity. Republic Financial sold Identity Now, since renamed Staples Promotional Products, to Staples Inc. in 2007.

A privately held company, Republic Financial has investment assets in aviation, equipment-leasing portfolios, private equity, structured-finance transactions and distressed commercial debt. If it buys the Northland site, Daniels said, Republic probably would sell it in pieces, which could hasten the land's development.

Joe Gonzales, executive director of the TIF Commission, is all for that. The TIF Commission and City Council must approve any changes to the so-called Prospect North TIF plan. But the bodies are likely to be amenable to reasonable modifications because development of the site would allow the city to stop making debt-service payments on the TIF bonds, he said.

According to city finance department documents, the Prospect North TIF plan will cost Kansas City more than $750,000 this year. Once sales and other taxes begin flowing from the site, Gonzales said, they will be used to cover ongoing costs and to reimburse the city for past bond payments.

Five years ago, Degenhardt told city officials that commercial tenants were ready to sign leases in the high-profile development. But the project could not get the necessary city plat approval because of various delays, including a dispute about who should pay $1.1 million to complete the new intersection of Maple Woods Parkway and M-1.

"I really thought that thing would take off," said Jim Hampton, executive director of the Clay County Economic Development Council. "If it ever does, it will be a really nice addition to the Northland."