Developers are asking for nearly $20 million in public tax incentives for a project that promises to remake a prominent site on Roe Boulevard in Roeland Park.
Catch up quick: The Roeland Park City Council this week unanimously approved rezoning and a preliminary development plan for the roughly $75 million proposed mixed-use project at The Rocks site at 4800 W. Roe Blvd., where the city pool was once located decades ago.
The upshot: According to council documents and City Attorney Steve Mauer, the developer, EPC Real Estate Group LLC of Overland Park, seeks about $19 million in public incentives comprising the following elements:
- $16.5 million in tax-increment financing, or TIF, over 20 years
- $1 million in community improvement district, or CID, proceeds over 22 years through an additional 2% sales tax within the district
- $1.5 million in industrial revenue bonds over two to three years that will exempt the developer from sales tax on the project’s construction materials
The amount of public incentives is capped at 25% of the project’s total construction cost.
- If the incentives reach the 25% cap before the TIF or CID term is complete, then the term will be shortened, City Administrator Keith Moody said in an email.
Details: Plans call for the development to include the following components:
- About 280 apartments, of which at least 5% will be set aside as “affordable” for renters making at or below 60% of the average median income in the Kansas City metropolitan area
- A 3,500-square foot restaurant, possibly with an outdoor dining space
- A private-public plaza
- A parking garage for residents
- Electric vehicle charging stations
- Fitness facilities and other amenities
Public comment: Two public hearings were held during Monday’s council meeting, one on the TIF project plan and another on creation of the CID.
- During the TIF public hearing, former council member Linda Mau asked, “What are we giving away other than the entire city?”
- “Because a lot of people don’t understand TIF, especially normal citizens,” Mau said. “And the fact that it is actually citizens’ dollars that we’re giving up. … We as the city are offering to give away the whole store.”
TIF is a public financing tool that reimburses a developer of a blighted property for eligible development and infrastructure costs using the increment of new property or sales tax revenue generated by the development. In determining whether to grant TIF, consideration is given to whether a development would be financially feasible without TIF.
Response: Mauer, the city attorney, said in a council workshop following the main council meeting that “when you hear that it’s giving away the farm or you’re giving away tax dollars, that’s not really true or complete.”
- “What you’re talking about is the tax generated today versus the tax generated when done,” Mauer said. “That increment that’s being increased by the development—that’s what’s being captured to help fund the development cost. Any taxes that would be paid as a base level now are still going to be paid.”
What’s next for The Rocks project
The council is expected to decide on the requested public incentives and the final development agreement at its Dec. 19 meeting and to consider the project’s final development plan in February.
- Brendon O’Leary, EPC’s executive vice president and a leader for the project, told the Shawnee Mission Post by email in early November that EPC aimed to break ground by mid-2023 and complete the project by mid-2025.
A final thought: Roeland Park has been actively seeking development agreements for The Rocks site since 2017.
- In 2018, after getting some initial interest from a developer, the city council dropped plans for a restaurant, hotel and adventure course on the site.
- Earlier this year, despite the city signing off on a land sale agreement, a plan with Sunflower Development Group also did not come to fruition.
Jerry LaMartina is a freelance journalist who contributes frequently to the Shawnee Mission Post and other Kansas City-area publications. He can be reached at lamartina.jerry@gmail.com.
