Kansas City News Blog

The wasteland at 63rd and Prospect

Trying to predict what's going to happen with the illusive Citadel Plaza shopping center is a little like trying to nail down the plastic bags that dip and swirl around the still empty lot at 63rd Street and Prospect Avenue. At the start of the week, it appeared the City Council was ready to hand over millions of taxpayer dollars to kick-start the strip mall. Instead, two new issues bubbled to the surface.  

After a decade, the Community Development Corporation of Kansas City hasn't been able to get the proposed $90 million development off the ground. Now, the guy in charge all those years -- William Threatt, Jr., the president of the CDC-KC -- is stepping down.

That's not all. Just one day before the City Council was set to make good on its $20.5 million advance to the developers, the finance department thought it would be a good idea to divert those dollars from an eyebrow-raising source.

Deb Hermann

If there's one council member who has kept a watchful eye on the Citadel Plaza, it's Deb Hermann. She wasn't amused when, on Wednesday, council members got a memo from Finance Director Jeffrey Yates proposing the city fund a $20-million advance from the capital improvements budget. "It dumbfounded me," Hermann says of the proposal. "I'm concerned that our finance director appears to be advocating for this project instead of just providing analysis for it."

Her concern is that money from the capital improvement budget is intended to fund public infrastructure projects, like streets and sewers, not commercial developments, like the Citadel Plaza. "These dollars are being used on private property for private purposes," she said. "I don't think PIAC money can be used in that way."

With that in mind, Hermann fired off an e-mail to city attorney Galen Beaufort questioning the legality of using those tax dollars for the Citadel Plaza. She also asked the finance department to come up with a list of already-approved and funded projects that will be bumped back in the line to free up cash for the shopping center.

Yates downplays those concerns. He isn't advocating for the project, he says, just trying to come up with a way to fund the $20.5 million advance the City Council approved more than 6 months ago. "I don't believe that I have the ability to ignore or override an existing council ordinance or law," he says.

The smartest move, he suggests in his memo, is to avoid selling bonds and racking up more debt that could downgrade the city's credit rating. He doesn't think the capital improvements pot is off limits for developments like the Citadel Plaza, either. "This is for land acquisition and remediation," he says. "There's a long-standing argument that acquisition or remediation of blight for development is a public purpose."

(Beaufort, the city attorney, has yet to return my call.)

As for the fear that other worthy projects will be delayed, Yates says that won't happen. In April, the City Council passed a resolution that gave them the authority to move money around in the Five-Year Capital Improvements Plan. Say you've got a street project that got money in this year's budget but the engineering isn't quite done. Take that money, slip it to the Citadel and, by the time that street is ready for construction, city staff will have plugged the financial hole.

There is one problem with that scenario, though. Yates acknowledges that he doesn't know if or how many projects in the current budget could afford to have their money temporarily diverted without halting construction. "We're in process of doing that," he says of reviewing the current list of projects. "With the one week delay, now we can put a little more meat to that recommendation."

With so many still-outstanding questions, Hermann admits she's starting to get pessimistic about the Citadel Plaza. Earlier this year, Block and Co., one of the city's major development firms, signed on as the lead developer, in partnership with the CDC-KC. Though that was a positive step, Hermann isn't ready to sign off just yet. "The reality is, the day this ordinance becomes effective they're going to be there with their hands out, wanting $20.5 million, and we are obligated to give it to them," she says.

William Threatt, Jr.

It won't be Bill Threatt taking that hand-out, though. Earlier this week, I called the CDC-KC president with a couple questions about the new partnership with Block and Co. He answered tersely, saying he was happy with the agreement and still confident in the project despite the delays. So I was a bit surprised when I heard today that he had been fired.

"That is not accurate," Threatt said when I gave him a call back, asking if he'd been asked to step aside. "I'm retiring. We're in a transition period."

Donald Lee, the CDC-KC's treasurer, is taking Threatt's place.

In the past, Councilman Terry Riley had been the Citadel Plaza and the CDC-KC's biggest cheerleader. But even he wasn't crying a river over Threatt's departure and the CDC's demotion. "All along, to me, this has been about getting the project done for that community," Riley says. "I would have hoped it didn't take that long, but I'm impressed with Mr. Block's background and I'm comfortable with the safeguards we've put in place for the city's money."

We'll see how comfortable the rest of the council members are when they're faced with the $20 million question again next week.