December 2, 2008 - Merriam Pointe LLC., Merriam MO

Merriam Pointe developers miss deadline for incentives Kansas City Business Journal

The developers of a Merriam retail project lost about $4.4 million in incentives tied to not paying about $25,000 in delinquent taxes.

Last week, the Merriam City Council gave the developers, organized as Merriam Pointe LLC, an extension from Nov. 24 to Sept. 15, 2009, to have access to the incentives, provided they get current on their taxes. But the developers — who include Ross Stiner, chairman of Olathe-based Coldwell Banker Commercial Fishman & Co. — didn’t sign the amended redevelopment agreement by a Wednesday deadline, so amendments that include $4.1 million in transportation development district incentives are void, city officials said Monday.

A call to Stiner was not immediately returned Monday.

About $6.75 million in tax increment financing was part of an original development agreement. If the developers don’t pay back taxes by Dec. 10, the city could choose to terminate the original agreement as well.

The city has invested about $6.5 million on public infrastructure investments at the site.

“The majority of the City Council were in favor of making extensions to allow the project to go forward,” City Administrator Phil Lammers said Monday. “They did believe that the developers ... were trying to perform and wanted to see the project built out, but the original development agreement had a clause that said they needed to keep current on their taxes.”

Another development group, Merriam Investors LLC, was to have taken over the project by Nov. 24, Lammers said.

The project, which fronts Interstate 35, was first proposed as a $60 million power center in late 2004.

Block & Co. Inc. Realtors Principal David Block and DJ Christie Inc. President David Christie said in February that they and others, as Merriam Investors, would take over the project. They planned to turn the cleared 22-acre site into a 239,000-square-foot shopping center and hotel that would open in mid-2009. An auto dealership, Shawnee Mission Hyundai, already had opened on the south side of the site.

Merriam Investors had planned to finish buying parcels of land at the site February of this year, but have not yet done so, Lammers said.

The Johnson County Appraiser’s Office estimated the entire site’s 2007 market value at more than $8.2 million.

The original redevelopment agreement remains in place, requiring that property taxes for the area remain current.

Developers are scheduled meet with city officials at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Lammers said.

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