RED Legacy Aims for
April 3 Groundbreaking
By Mary Wilson
On Tuesday, March 3, the Grandview Board of Aldermen gave
the final approval on the second amended and restated Truman’s Marketplace Tax
Increment Financing (TIF) Redevelopment Plan. A week earlier, the final public
hearing for the TIF plan was heard, and the aldermen moved to postpone the
final vote until their next meeting, in order to comply with giving a ten days’
notice.
As previously reported, the major component of the
redevelopment effort has changed from a reconstruction to primarily a remodel
of existing structures. Managing Partner of RED Legacy, Bart Lowen, presented
the aldermen with elevation visuals as well as an explanation of what RED will
be remodeling and how it will look when completed.
“One question we wanted to address is where we’re at with
our tenants,” said Lowen. “Time kills deals, and that is the case in some
cases, but we’re happy to tell you that, through this entire effort, of the
approximately eighty-percent of the tenants that we had in lease in the former
plan, all but one is moving forward with us. So, roughly seventy-five percent
of the tenants in this project are still there today.”
Lowen added that his team has been working with those
tenants to incorporate their businesses into the new site plan. RED will work
with them to amend the signed leases to provide for the changes to the shopping
center. Some were shifted or moved to accommodate the remodel effort.
“Burlington, for instance, is now on the south end of the
site,” said Lowen. “We had to move them into an existing location.”
Of those seventy-five percent of tenants, Lowen said half of
them have signed amended leases. One major tenant RED is still working with to
sign an amended lease is Price Chopper, yet Lowen was confident that the grocer
remains committed to the project. When the lease with Price Chopper is
executed, RED will be well into the sixty-percent leased capacity range on the
project for tenants.
Security has been an issue that’s remained prevalent in the
plans for the shopping center, and Lowen stated that a good security program
remains intact with the amended plan. There will be security cameras on the
buildings as well as in parking areas. There will also be a patrolling effort
during business hours. Along with the security efforts, shoppers will see new
parking lots, upgraded landscaping, and a new street that will run through the
project with lighting and upgraded facades.
“It just creates an atmosphere that is a little bit more of
an uplifting atmosphere that really helps to add to the security effort of the
project,” said Lowen.
The elevation and look of the project has remained fairly
constant, even with the changes from redevelopment to remodel. RED has made
some tweaks and changes to the look of some buildings to accommodate the
remodel effort, but the walkable environment the aldermen were looking for in
the beginning has remained the focus.
“All the buildings remain; it’s just a façade renovation,”
said Lowen. “This project right now is very flat, and we’ll start to create and
add some character into the plan. We’ll be applying quite a bit of materials to
the existing walls in order to create the façade upgrade the project will
receive. This clearly is well more than a can of paint.”
Moving forward, RED will wait for the Grandview Board of
Aldermen to approve the Paramaters Bond Ordinance and Bond Documents on March
24, and will then move forward with the purchase of the shopping center two days
later on March 26. RED is prepared for a groundbreaking event to occur on
Friday, April 3, provided everything in the next month goes smoothly.
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