A second grocery store appears to be in the works for the city of Merriam.

The Merriam City Council on Monday, in a 7-0 vote, set a public hearing for June 22 to consider establishing a community improvement district, or CID, at Merriam Town Center. Councilmember Amy Rider was absent.

A CID would create an additional 1% to 2% sales tax levied on purchases at the shopping center that would go toward the district’s improvements.

At the center of that improvement plan is an approximately 23,000-square-foot grocery store that would be added to the shopping complex that sits near Johnson Drive and Interstate 35.

Specifics beyond that — including where at the complex a new store would go or what grocer would fill the space — remain publicly unknown, though more details are expected at the June public hearing.

Hen House left Merriam Town Center in 2018

A Hen House closed at Merriam Town Center in 2018, leaving the entire city without a grocery store for years.

Now, the city could have two new grocery stores in the near future, with the expected opening later this year of a Trader Joe’s at Merriam Grand Station Marketplace, on the site of the former Antioch Library branch at the corner of Antioch Road and Shawnee Mission Parkway.

The Trader Joe’s development, coincidentally, was also Merriam’s first and so far only development to receive backing of a CID, the same financing mechanism now being considered at Merriam Town Center.

At the special city council meeting on Monday, City Administrator Chris Engel explained the city’s rationale for wanting to draw another grocery to Merriam.

“Even though we think we’ve got a big win with Trader Joe’s, we still heard some folks that said Trader Joe’s is a regional draw. It’d be great to have a neighborhood grocery store somewhere in Merriam,” Engel said.

If approved next month, this would be the second CID in Merriam, following the city’s first-ever such incentive district covering the Merriam Grand Station Marketplace development where the Trader Joe’s is going.

How they voted

Here’s how each Merriam councilmember voted on Monday night.

Jacob Laha: Yes

Jason Silvers: Yes

Amy Rider: Absent

Whitney Yadrich: Yes

Chris Evans Hands: Yes

Bruce Kaldahl: Yes

Staci Chivetta: Yes

Reuben Cozmyer: Yes

 

Early proposal features a new grocery store

City staff and R.H. Johnson Company have been in negotiations regarding a CID at Merriam Town Center for nearly three years, according to city documents.

City Administrator Chris Engel said the goal of a potential CID is to help propel the site “into the next 25 years.”

Engel said this effort follows some “missed opportunities,” such as a now-scuttled Gamescape entertainment concept featuring bowling lanes and laser tag at the Cinemark movie theater at the complex.

“We couldn’t pull that one off, but we think we’ve got some things in the queue there that a public-private partnership would benefit, greatly to our residents, to our customers, as well as to the owners of the [Merriam Town] center,” Engel said.

City documents show the early concept includes:

• A 1% CID tax to be levied on all purchases at Merriam Town Center for up to 22 years. Notably, purchases at the new grocery store would be exempt from the 1% extra tax.
• An approximately 23,000-square-foot grocery store, 30% of the associated costs of which would be reimbursed by CID funds raised on purchases at the shopping center.
• Public improvements like signage, a “streamlined main drive aisle,” electric vehicle chargers, green space, facade upgrades and more.
• The potential for three new outparcels, or other development sites around the Merriam Town Center property, in the future.

A look at Merriam’s CID policy

The city of Merriam’s CID policy gives special consideration to any proposed development that features a grocery store, given the city’s years-long stint without one.

Several other items of criteria must be evaluated by a development committee before a CID can be approved.

Some of that criteria include:

• A benefit to multiple businesses as opposed to one single business
• A project with infrastructure upgrades, such as to parks, transit stops or utility undergrounding
• The proposed project is in an identified area that needs economic development
• The application supports a reinvestment in the Merriam community through a commercial redevelopment

At the time of the CID policy discussion, councilmembers also asked to include language that requires developers to be current on property taxes owed to the city and inform shoppers of the additional sales tax before the point of sale.

Merriam Grand Station Marketplace is the only CID currently in the city of Merriam.

Next steps:

• The city council approved a public hearing for the Merriam Town Center CID request for June 22.
• Engel said the details of the proposed project will be outlined at the June 22 meeting.
• The city council meets at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 9001 W. 62nd St.

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