Latest news with #STARBond
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Real estate attorney shares potential future of Aspiria Campus
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. ACLU accuses Leavenworth facility of breaking the law, violating ICE detainees' rights 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. Lawrence police searching for person who stabbed elderly woman '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. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bill could make STAR Bond tax districts for malls in Kansas
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Lawmakers held a hearing on Monday for a bill that would make STAR Bonds available to mall redevelopment projects in Kansas. Substitute for Senate Bill 197 would let cities or counties establish STAR Bond projects to redevelop malls. The projects would need to be approved by the state's secretary of commerce. The bill would allow the use of STAR Bonds if at least 50% of the mall is unoccupied. Mall redevelopment projects would need to invest a minimum of $10 million before being eligible for STAR Bonds. STAR Bond districts would be created to recover the investment through sales tax revenue. Under the bill, entities in the STAR Bond district would be required to collect visitor data consisting only of ZIP codes for all sales, including cash sales. The data would be made public within 90 days of being received. STAR Bonds are a financing tool that is paid through sales tax revenue generated from the development, according to the Kansas Department of Commerce (KDC). The KDC reports that STAR Bond projects have no specific financial threshold in rural areas but must be of major regional or statewide significance. Included in the bill is a provision to eliminate the city or county authority to exercise eminent domain to acquire property for STAR Bond projects. The bill would also extend the STAR Bond financing act to July 1, 2028. Cats with bird flu reported in Manhattan Americans for Prosperity Kansas opposed the bill, saying STAR Bond districts result in higher taxes. Proponent testimony was provided by representatives of the KDC and Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce who said the STAR Bond program is a tool that provides substantial economic benefits and attracts outside visitors. The Kansas Department of Revenue indicated the bill could reduce state revenue depending on the cost to finance specific projects by foregoing sales and compensating use taxes. The agency said it was unable to estimate the fiscal effect. For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kansas House members scrutinize Senate plan to rehab malls with STAR bonds
Rep. Bill Sutton, R-Gardner, seen during a March 5, 2024, session of the House, questioned the merits of trying to redevelop malls that might be empty for cultural reasons. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — Members of a House committee on Monday scrutinized a Senate plan to expand the use of STAR bonds to redevelop struggling malls. The proposal is part of Senate Bill 197, which would extend the state's STAR bonds program through 2028 with revisions that include the elimination of eminent domain authority and new requirements for recording visitor data. The Senate passed the bill 32-8 on Feb. 19, with eight Republicans opposed. Sen. Jeff Klemp, R-Lansing, testified before members of the House Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee, where he revealed that he was responsible for adding the mall development provision to the bill. He said he had the dilapidated mall in Leavenworth in mind, and that more than a dozen other malls across the state would meet the criteria for a STAR bond project. 'The goal would be to drive in outside folks to come into that mall,' Klemp said. Several members of the committee expressed concern with including malls in the expansion of the state STAR, or sales tax and revenue, bond program, which sunsets on July 1, 2026, without legislative action. STAR bonds are an economic development tool using state and local sales tax revenue generated by a project to pay off the bonds that finance it. There are 17 STAR bond districts in the state, ranging geographically from the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum in Atchison to the Dodge City Boot Hill Museum. There are four in Kansas City, including the Kansas Speedway. Under SB 197, an existing mall would be eligible for a STAR Bond project if 50% of the space were unoccupied. The redevelopment project would require a minimum capital investment of $10 million. 'When we're talking about STAR bonds for mall rehab, what's the idea here?' asked Rep. Bill Sutton, R-Gardner. 'We're not building malls, are we? What is it? What is it we're wanting to do with these STAR bond projects, as it relates to an old mall?' Rachel Willis, director of legislative affairs for the Kansas Department of Commerce, which administers the STAR bonds program, said communities across the state are 'seeing vacant, or mainly vacant malls' that formerly had been a main attraction for the community. 'So how can we help serve them and revitalize that to become again an attraction like it once was,' Willis said. Sutton responded: 'Are we taking into consideration that the reason that they're dilapidated and empty might be a cultural issue? And further investing into a system that's out of fad doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.' Willis said the idea was not to 'just redevelop that mall and make it a mall again.' 'It's how can we redevelop that particular space, those buildings, into an attraction that does fit our cultural needs now, based on how everyone is shopping and the experiences folks want to have within those communities,' Willis said. Among other provisions, the bill would allow the commerce secretary through Dec. 31 of this year to approve a vertical construction within an existing STAR bond project in cities with a population below 60,000. It also would eliminate the authority that city and county governments have to use eminent domain to acquire property for a STAR bond project, and prohibit the use of tax increment financing, or TIF, districts on top of a STAR bond project. Opponents to the bill objected to a new requirement that all entities within a STAR bond district record visitor data, including ZIP codes, at the point of sale — which may not be possible for some small businesses. The bill also would require the online disclosure of the project's feasibility study, financial guarantees of the prospective developer, and other data within 90 days of a project being adopted.
