Real estate attorney shares potential future of Aspiria Campus

Yahoo

3 days ago

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — More details were revealed on Thursday, May 29, about the mortgage purchase an affiliate of the Kansas City Royals made on the old Sprint Campus, now known as Aspiria.
The team confirmed the news with FOX4 on Wednesday, but said no stadium decision has been made yet. According to the Kansas City Business Journal, Occidental Management, which owns the property northwest of 119th and Nall, needs to make a more than $232 million loan payment by August 9.
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Levy Craig Law Firm Real Estate Attorney Tracey Steele said on Thursday that the Royals' affiliate didn't buy this mortgage to give the borrower, Occidental Management, better loan terms. They have their own agenda for the property.
'We don't know if they actually want to build a stadium there or if this is about leverage in negotiating with lawmakers, you know, both in Missouri and in Kansas,' Steele said.
When the Royals confirmed the affiliate's mortgage purchase Wednesday, the team said they still had not determined where they wanted to build their new stadium. Steele says that if Occidental Management can't make that payment in two and a half months, the property could be foreclosed on.
'The Royals' affiliated entity, they're not a bank, but they are the lender,' Steele said. 'They're the holder of the mortgage. They're the entity that has security interest in this piece of property, so if they foreclose, they will get the deed.'
The August 9 timeline falls after the Missouri Legislature returns for a special session where a stadium package will be discussed. It also falls after the Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) Bond package expires on June 30 in Kansas.
The STAR Bond package can be extended for another year. Steele says the affiliated entity buying the mortgage on the property allows the Royals to talk to Missouri lawmakers about the opportunity that they could have in Kansas.
'They can say, 'We have this Special STAR Bond that we can use to incentivize this development in Overland Park,'' he continued, talking about the Royals.
'We have a piece of property in Overland Park that we don't own yet, but we have an interest in that land that may turn into full ownership of the land in August, so if you don't give us a sweet deal to develop somewhere in Missouri, we already have bird in hand in Kansas.'
Kansas Policy Institute Chief Executive Officer Dave Trabert says he hopes Kansas' Legislative Coordinating Council (LCC), made up of State House and State Senate leadership, does not extend the STAR Bond offer. The LCC can do that without having the full State House and State Senate vote on it.
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'It would be sad if they did, given that this is the same legislature that was unable to do property tax relief as they promised for individual property owners, some of whom are being taxed out of their homes, to turn around and give billion-dollar subsidies to private entities. [That] would be a real slap in the face, as well as bad economic policy,' Trabert said Thursday when asked about the possibility that the LCC extends the STAR Bond package.
FOX4 reached out to the office of LCC Chair and Republican State Senate President Ty Masterson Thursday afternoon to see if they were interested in extending the STAR Bonds. Masterson's spokesman said that an extension would most likely be short-term and would be decided at a date closer to the deadline.
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