ShawneeDispatch.com

It will be weeks before the owners of Ten Quivira Plaza present their new community improvement district request to the Shawnee City Council.

Contributed image from Tri-Land Properties Inc.

This illustration shows the proposed layout of businesses and parking lots at Ten Quivira Plaza, where owners are requesting a community improvement district — featuring a half-cent sales tax increase within the center — to help create revenue needed for redevelopment.

But the company is already ahead of where it was last year, when it took just one public hearing for their first request to wither on the vine. This time shopping center owners plan to contribute nearly $3 million of their own money, and they’ve taken steps to get affected business owners on board with the idea first.

Representatives from Tri-Land Properties Inc. presented revised plans June 28 during a neighborhood meeting at Ten Quivira, a shopping center at the northwest corner of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Quivira Road.

They hope a community improvement district — a financing tool that allows property owners to raise sales taxes within their boundaries — will help them fund $4.2 million in renovations at Ten Quivira. They said work would improve accessibility and appearance, help stop decay, attract new tenants and create more tax revenue for Shawnee.

Tri-Land is proposing to contribute $2.8 million for the renovations and pay for the rest through a half-cent sales tax increase at Ten Quivira businesses. That means shoppers would pay an extra 50 cents on $100 worth of taxable merchandise purchased at stores within the shopping center.

Robert Booth, Tri-Land director of operations, described the center as dated and drab. He said there were currently nine vacant stores, which account for roughly 20 percent of the center.

“It’s difficult for us to market this,” Booth said. “We certainly don’t want the vacancies.”

Booth said that without city approval of the community improvement district, renovation would not be possible without passing costs on to tenants. He said Ten Quivira had verbal agreements with national tenants that hinge on redevelopment.

“They have no interest in it now,” he said. “They have a lot of interest if we redevelop the shopping center.”

Last year, Tri-Land proposed creating a community improvement district with a 1-cent sales tax increase. Company representatives didn’t discuss the proposal with tenants before taking it to the City Council, one of the biggest reasons business owners — and ultimately Council members — didn’t support the plan.

“They apologized, and they did it right this time,” said Tanya Kostynuk, who owns Stamper’s Ink.

Kostynuk said she was excited about the new plan.

“I’m very much in support of someone coming in and actually using their money to spruce up my town,” she said. “I would love nothing more than making this a beautiful center. I think it’s going to be fabulous.”

Roughly 20 residents attended Tuesday’s meeting, too.

Some attendees complained that Tri-Land does not maintain the property well enough as it is, and some did not support the sales tax increase.

Rod Houck said it was better than the full cent proposed last year but that even half a cent could be a hardship for some residents who shop at the center, especially those on fixed incomes.

Most residents seemed to support the plan.

Nearby resident Teresa Van Buskirk said her property values had declined in recent years and that she thought improving Ten Quivira, where she shops, would help the whole neighborhood.

“I like where I live. I really hate seeing my neighborhood going downhill,” she said. “To donate 50 cents on $100, it’s well worth the investment to me.”

Nancy and Robert Jefferis moved into the neighborhood just before Ten Quivira was built in 1981.

Nancy Jefferis said she opposed Tri-Land’s last proposal but was “on the fence” about the new plan.

“If it generates enough taxes, in the long run I might be ahead,” she said. “This time they’re putting pennies in the pot, too.”

Tri-Land, based in Westchester, Ill., specializes in redeveloping aging community shopping centers and owns properties in seven states. The company’s recent redevelopment projects include Cherokee South Plaza, 95th Street and Antioch Road in Overland Park.

The company bought Ten Quivira in 2006. Renovating the shopping center would increase its occupancy rate, generating more sales and tax revenue for the community, Tri-Land officials said.

According to the company’s estimates, sales tax revenues could increase by $13 million for the city of Shawnee, $12.8 million for Johnson County and $56 million for the state over the life of the community improvement district, which state law allows to last up to 22 years.

Ten Quivira’s appraised value has decreased $2.1 million, or 17 percent, since 2008, according to values provided by the city.

Increasing the center’s value would increase real estate tax revenue by an estimated $9.2 million, which includes millions of dollars for Shawnee and its schools, Tri-Land representatives said.

The city will announce the public hearing date once it has been set, city manager Carol Gonzales said.

If approved, Ten Quivira Plaza would be the first community improvement district in Shawnee. For that reason, leaders are expected to carefully consider how to proceed and whether the improvement district is a tool the city wants to use for redevelopment.

“It will set a precedent,” Gonzales said.

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