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A Chicago-based developer is asking Independence city leaders to approve $49 million in public incentives to redevelop Noland Fashion Square, a once-thriving shopping center that has fallen into disrepair during the past decade.
Tri-Land Properties presented a proposal Monday to the Independence City Council, requesting the incentives as part of a $100 million redevelopment of the 32-acre site at the northwest corner of Noland Road and U.S. 40. The council is expected to hear a second reading and possibly vote on the incentives June 1.
The redevelopment would be anchored by a Price Chopper grocery store, which is relocating approximately one mile south from its current location at I-70 and Noland Road.
McKeever’s, which owns the existing Price Chopper, said it will not renew at that location when the term expires in 2028.
Tom Scannell, Independence’s director of community and economic development, said keeping the business in the city is a key benefit of the deal.
"They have said they are not going to renew their lease, so keeping an Independence business in Independence is something that would be a benefit for the city," Scannell said.
Noland Fashion Square now has only four stores open at the site — an America’s Best Contacts and Eyeglasses optometry shop, an Olive Garden, a BMO bank branch, and a Hollywood Nails salon.
The site — which used to be home to a Toys R Us, a Gordman’s and a movie theater among anchor tenants — has experienced significant deterioration in recent years.
“Over the last 10 years is really when we've seen the decline in Noland Fashion Square,” Scannell said. “More recently, in the last five years, it's been a real challenge for city resources. ... We’ve had numerous break-ins, fires at those buildings, theft of copper and everything of value out of those buildings.”
The city stepped up code enforcement and worked with Block and Company to put out a Request for Proposal, both locally and nationwide, seeking redevelopment plans.
“Unfortunately, we didn't have any developers who submitted a proposal for that,” Scannell said.
Meanwhile, conditions at Noland Fashion Square continued to wither away.
“It's a nice area, you know, and it's just gone by the wayside,” Ashley Caldwell, an assistant manager at America’s Best, said. “People forgot about it.”
She said safety has become a growing concern, especially in the winter.
“The majority of people that work here are women,” Caldwell said. “When it gets dark, the lighting isn't great, so when you walk outside it's pitch black. I'm like, ‘Make sure no one is left by themselves, make sure everybody's car is started, then we leave. The night is really bad, kind of a scary situation.'”
Vagrancy has become an ongoing concern at the property, so she welcomes the revitalization.
"That’s a good facelift that is needed,” Caldwell said. “It's the start of getting other businesses to come back or new ones to say, ‘Hey, we have a community, we have a family here, so let's make the best of it.'"
Staff at two other nearby businesses, who declined to go on camera, also expressed excitement about a reimagined Noland Fashion Square.
Scannell said the city will not be on the hook for bond repayments. Still, Tri-Land Properties, which redeveloped The Hub Shopping Center at Missouri 291 and 23rd Street, among other Kansas City-area projects, is asking for a variety of tax-subsidized financing.
That includes nearly $16.1 million in TIF money, more than $9.3 million in sales-tax rebates, and more than $21.5 million in additional sales-tax money or redirected from a community-improvement district.
“The first thing is the city's economic development policy states that the city will not back any TIF project," Scannell said. “The developer, when they submitted their TIF, understood that, and they were not asking for any type of public backing of that. So, the success of this TIF will be solely borne by the developer. They are bearing all of the risk associated with reimagining that shopping center.”
He also expressed confidence in Tri-Land Properties' ability to deliver on the project.
"They have the track record and the ability to get things done," Scannell said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI, which was then supplemented and edited for AP style corrections. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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