Seven Undeveloped Parcels within the TIF District Total About 9 Acres
At the northeast corner of Buckner-Tarsney Rd. (Main St.) and Interstate 70 in Grain Valley, interchange improvements have bumped Outer Rd. away from the highway. Outer Rd. now encloses about nine acres of undeveloped land that is for sale.
What are the prospects for selling this land?
The primary consideration is whether commercial property is presently not available in the City of Grain Valley. The answer is that commercial real estate is overdeveloped as part of the real estate fever that created a "bubble" of development without tenants lined up for leasing. A commercial strip about one half a mile north of the Interstate sits almost empty. Of the six units, only one is occupied.
In another area of town, Sni-A-Bar Plaza is not entirely leased.
Casey's built a new General Store, but the old one sits unoccupied.
Main St. has at least two vacancies – one is a restaurant that went out of business.
On top of these vacancies, S.G. Property Management is looking for tenants for the new Grain Valley Marketplace – 50,000 square feet of retail space for lease in a development which is supposed to be anchored by a theater. This construction has begun north of the bumped out Outer Rd., across the street from the nine as yet undeveloped acres which are enclosed by the Outer Rd. and the Interstate.
B&B Theatres, of Liberty, Missouri, will operate the theater.
Infrastructure (public works) for the development of vacant land north of the Interstate at the Grain Valley interchange is being financed by bonds that have been issued by the city. The city's Industrial Development Authority (IDA) acts as a “conduit issuer” in order to carry out the annual appropriations pledge on the city’s bonds. The bonds and interest are supposed to be repaid by Tax
Increment Financing (TIF) from the development district.
An Industrial Development Authority is a private corporation formed by a municipality. Directors are appointed and approved by the mayor and the board of alderman.
If I understand correctly, the city's financing is spent only on public infrastructure which must be owned and maintained by the city once it has been completed. These improvements include storm and sanitary sewers, road construction, curbing, sidewalks, grading, and other necessary site work such as a storm water retention basin.
See another post concerning which retailers will not establish themselves in Grain Valley and why not.
P.S. Outer Rd. north of the Interstate is actually named McQuerry Rd. to the east of Buckner-Tarsney Rd. and Jefferson St. to the west.
