Reasonable discussions on future of West Park Mall

Reasonable people sometimes disagree.

That scenario is playing out in Cape Girardeau as a group of local developers is asking for significant incentives to redevelop West Park Mall, and some in the city's business community question the requested amount.

To recap: River City Centre LLC — locally owned and managed by Lucas Haley, Michael Williams and Ben Ressel, with additional investment from Matthew Mills, Natalie Riley and Steve Holden, a group with extensive experience across a wide swath of the country — bought the mall in summer 2021. The group has proposed a redevelopment plan that would reconstruct the mall itself, in phases, and develop other retail/restaurant facilities on the perimeter of the 65-acre site. The developers say the comprehensive project will cost about $107 million. They have asked for an incentive package estimated to total about $49 million (not including financing costs) — composed of up to $18 million in tax increment financing, $3 million in construction materials sales tax waivers, $100,000 in city fee waivers and about $28 million in tax benefits from a Community Improvement District and Transportation Development District.

Community Improvement District and Transportation Development District rules allow developers to increase sales and/or property taxes relating to a given project, with those taxes offsetting costs of the improvements to the property. These funds would come from shoppers who patronize stores at the development, not from city coffers.

A TIF plan calls for officials to determine baselines for sales tax and property tax revenue for a given project, as well as to establish rules around qualified, reimbursable expenses. Over a designated time, an increase in those revenues gets split equally between the project developers and the taxing districts. If the business is not successful and the tax collections fail to rise, there is no revenue to split. The full risk of the project is on the developer.

TIF commissioners voted to recommend the TIF portion of the plan to the City Council. They based their decision on two required criteria: Is the site blighted? Would the project be feasible "but for" the incentive? Yes, they said, the site is blighted. No, they contended, the project would not proceed without the incentive.

The disagreements began here.

The developers presented a blight study they commissioned that pointed to deterioration here and obsolescence there.

Some business leaders — including Dan Drury, president of MidAmerica Hotels Corp., and Kevin Whitfield, president of Drury Southwest — objected to the blight designation, especially with regard to the mall's parking lots. When the matter came before the TIF Commission, commissioner Adrienne Henry, who works for Drury Southwest, was the sole vote against the proposal. After the vote, she said finding the entire property to be blighted could "open the floodgates" to many such findings across the city.

The city subsequently approved the record plat of the development.

To date, those are the only official public actions municipal officials have taken. But, behind the scenes, at the municipal staff level, much is happening. City manager Kenneth Haskin said Thursday, Aug. 10, officials are negotiating details of the proposal, and that has been City Hall's position all along: Be patient. Give us time to work through this.

The next step in the process will be 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 15, when the city will hold a public hearing to discuss the Community Improvement District portion of the incentive package.

Reasonable people in the community — the developers, elected and appointed officials, business leaders and engaged citizens — have weighed in and will continue to do so. They have earnest and thoughtful concerns about the project and the future of the mall property (not to mention future developments of this scope).

Unfortunately, misinformation and misrepresentations have crept into these discussions. It's one thing to disagree. It's another to do so with misleading facts. We encourage everyone interested in the future of the mall to seek out the truth. Ask questions. Base opinions on facts, not social media chatter or other biased information.

What has been universal is the idea that West Park Mall has been an integral part of the city's retail base. It has become a shell of its former self. Without major investment, it will continue its downward spiral, which puts the city's existing tax base at risk.

What is obviously not universal, though, is unanimity on the scale of incentives to spur this type of economic development.

We encourage the city and the developers — who have shown ambitious vision — to come to reasonable terms, which will enable the mall project to move forward. If that agreement is reached, it will be a matter of celebration for the community.