A Johnson County judge last week ordered the long-troubled Mission Gateway site to be sold through foreclosure, and a local developer has already struck a deal to potentially buy the property.
The city of Mission announced Wednesday morning that Kansas City, Missouri-based R.H. Johnson Company has entered into an agreement to acquire the Mission Gateway property once foreclosure proceedings are finished.
That means the long-vacant former mall site could finally change hands to a new developer.
However, city officials were quick to emphasize that there are no new plans yet for the increasingly rundown site near Shawnee Mission Parkway and Johnson Drive, and “important steps” remain before any definitive change in ownership occurs.
In the city’s release, Mayor Sollie Flora acknowledged the site’s 20-year history of fits and starts.
“We know our community has heard promising news about this site before, and we understand that people will approach this announcement with both hope and skepticism,” Flora said.
“We are encouraged that a local development team is working toward acquiring the property and is interested in making a significant investment in Mission. At the same time, there is considerable work ahead. Our focus is on the future.”
Judge issued final foreclosure order
The city’s announcement came days after Johnson County District Court Judge Robert Wonnell on Oct. 2 issued a final judgment ordering the Mission Gateway site be sold in a sheriff’s sale, or public auction, wrapping up a foreclosure case that has dragged on for more than three years.
New York-based Metropolitan Commercial Bank sued Mission Gateway’s owner Aryeh Realty in 2023 for failure to make payments on a $26 million loan it took out to develop the site.
Wonnell sided with the bank in a ruling from the bench last December, but the final written judgment didn’t come until last week.
Aryeh Realty, a subsidiary of New York-based Cameron Group LLC, still owns the property, according to county land records, but under the judgment, the company has given up its right to buy the property back after the sale.
Under the judgment, Aryeh now owes the bank more than $46 million, including $24 million in unpaid principal and more than $20 million in interest.
The judgment does not set a sale date. If Aryeh does not pay the judgment within 14 days of it being issued, which would be Oct. 16, then the bank can ask the court to order a sheriff’s sale of the property.
Daniel Estes, the lead attorney representing Aryeh in the foreclosure, could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.
R.H. Johnson owns many KC-area properties
R.H. Johnson Company owns dozens of retail and commercial properties in the Kansas City metropolitan area, including at least 15 in Johnson County.
One of its properties is Merriam Town Center, which is home to Cinemark, Home Depot and, soon, a new Aldi. That shopping center is receiving upgrades as part of a public incentive agreement with the city of Merriam.
If and when the acquisition of Mission Gateway goes through, R.H. Johnson Company could effectively anchor two key ends of Johnson Drive in northeast Johnson County, between Shawnee Mission Parkway and Interstate 35.
The company also recently redeveloped Meadowbrook Shopping Center in Prairie Village at 95th Street and Nall Avenue.
Currently, the local developer and city staff are working on due diligence, studying the site and what is needed for redevelopment, according to the press release.
The site itself has grown more decrepit in recent years, ever since work on the entertainment complex stopped in 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Passing motorists can easily see Mission Gateway, marked by a large, white shell of a building — what would have been the entertainment complex — and tall, cement pillars for a would-be parking garage.
Overgrown weeds and litter line the fence around the property.
Aryeh remains responsible for the site’s maintenance until it is in a new owner’s hands, according to the city’s press release.
To the south of the site, local developers are building new apartments and rehabbing the Mission Mart Shopping Center to the west.
Plans for the former Wild Oats space directly to the west of the site are currently on hold given the “traction” on Mission Gateway and housing developments, the owner of that site told the Post.
Site’s 20-year history riddled with failed starts
In 2005, the old Mission Mall permanently closed at the 17-acre tract at Johnson Drive, Roe Avenue and Shawnee Mission Parkway.
Since acquiring the site, New York-based developer Cameron Group LLC has failed to pull through on any of the several proposed redevelopments for the prominent site — which serves as a true gateway to the city of Mission.
Over the years, the developer — as both Cameron Group and its subsidiary Aryeh Realty — has also frequently failed to pay real estate taxes, including more than $450,000 of unpaid taxes.
It started with a 2006 plan for a mixed-use development at the site and ended with a 2023-approved $268 million plan with residential, retail and office components.
Months after approving the $268 million plan, the city council terminated the agreement with Aryeh Realty due to the unpaid taxes. Metropolitan Commercial Bank had already filed for foreclosure on the site by the time the city ended the agreement.
What happens next?
For R.H. Johnson to acquire the site, the foreclosure proceedings have to play out first.
The property must be sold at a sheriff’s sale, which will be open to any bidder. Then, a judge must approve the sale before a new owner takes over.
The city’s release Wednesday notes that R.H. Johnson’s agreement “contemplates the acquisition of the former Mission Mall site” but that “the timing is uncertain and outside the City’s control.”
Any redevelopment plans for the site will need to start fresh. The city terminated its agreement with Aryeh in 2023 and all tax incentives linked to that agreement have been voided, as well.
The city says it will post updates at missionks.org as public meetings are scheduled.
“As the largest remaining commercial redevelopment opportunity in Mission, the site has the potential to have a significant impact on the City’s economic development, tax base and eastern gateway for decades to come,” the press release reads.
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