Indian Springs Mall to receive major facelift
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Unified Government of Wyandotte County is working towards developing the demolition site of what once was a booming mall.
The Indian Springs Mall was demolished in 2016 and has since remained vacant. 49 acres of land right off I-635 and State Avenue waits for something to bring people back together there while stimulating economic growth.
“A resurrection of that area to more than just a vacant piece of property,” said UG Wyandotte Co. David Johnston about what will come of the area once businesses, mixed-use housing, and increased accessibility to public transportation are there.
UG selected three development companies to move toward the next stage of planning. Right now, the property houses a KCATA Transit Center, the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department, and the Wyandotte/Leavenworth Area Agency on Aging.
Developers are working on ideas to benefit themselves financially as developers do -- high risk-high reward.
Johnston said they know that but the developers will need to meet some of the community’s criteria either way.
“We connect with our people, getting their ideas, reaching out, and informing them of the needs of the area, and then back-and-forth. Come to some sort of understanding.”
The time is now.
“We want to get out of land ownership, get it into private hands so we can have a higher assessed valuation. That tends to drive down the tax bill of our citizens.”
The three developers will have until April 1 to submit a proposal which will then be reviewed for criteria benchmarks, including whether they have the capital to back it up. Interviews will take place and then the winner will be announced at the end of April.
“We’re really looking forward to getting past the review process so we can do some nitty-gritty, deep dive type of negotiations with one developer.”
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