Twenty years after the old Mission Mall went dark, the vacant Mission Gateway site at Johnson Drive and Roe Avenue may finally have a new suitor. The City of Mission says R.H. Johnson Company is exploring an acquisition of the long-stalled property, though the deal hinges entirely on how a Johnson County foreclosure case plays out.
City officials announced that the stalled site has a potential future through an agreement with R.H. Johnson Company, according to KCTV5. The agreement contemplates the acquisition of the former Mission Mall site, but the company does not currently own the property, and the city has said the acquisition remains dependent on completion of the ongoing legal process. There is no certain completion date for any such purchase.
Mission Mayor Sollie Flora told KCTV5 that a local development team is working toward acquiring the property, though she cautioned that considerable work remains ahead. The site is, by the city's own description, Mission's largest commercial redevelopment opportunity, and a successful renovation has the potential to affect the city's economic development and tax base.
A Foreclosure Case Still Tangled in Johnson County Court
The property remains privately owned by Aryeh Realty LLC, which took ownership from Gateway Developer LLC back in 2016, according to the City of Mission. Aryeh Realty owes Metropolitan Commercial Bank $26 million after defaulting on its loan, and a Johnson County District Court judge has already ruled that the bank can move forward with foreclosure and sale of the site, as reported by the Kansas City Star.
That ruling is far from the final word. Per the same outlet, final decisions are still months out because the court must still decide who gets paid back first among competing claims, and the land itself has not yet been sold. Unpaid contractors who worked on the site have filed claims totaling about $10.5 million, and the court has not yet determined where those claims fall in line for repayment.
The City of Mission has repeatedly stressed it is not a party to that foreclosure litigation and does not own or control the site. The Kansas City Star reports that the city has no plans to acquire the property itself, citing the prohibitive cost of doing so.
Two Decades of Stalled Plans and Unpaid Taxes
Mission Gateway has sat empty for 20 years, a milestone KCTV5 Investigates underscored after obtaining public records in December. The site has cycled through multiple failed redevelopment concepts over that span, including big box retail, hotel, multifamily and office proposals, according to KSHB. The project remains unrealized.
The most recent attempt was a proposed redevelopment plan, which the Kansas City Star reported would have included a roughly 90,000-square-foot Cinergy Entertainment complex, 50,000 square feet of commercial or restaurant space, 370 apartment units and a parking garage. The proposal was estimated at $268 million.
That plan never materialized. The City of Mission says it terminated its redevelopment agreement with the developer in July 2023 after Aryeh Realty failed to cure a tax-payment default within the required 60-day period. The project also failed to meet progress requirements tied to eligible redevelopment incentives.
Taxes, Cleanup Costs and Who Pays Now
The Kansas City Star reported more than $449,000 in unpaid taxes on the property.
In the meantime, the city itself has been footing cleanup bills for a property it does not own. KCTV5's records request showed the city has spent $15,078.11 cleaning up just portions of the Mission Gateway area, even as current property owners remain responsible for broader site maintenance until any new ownership becomes official.
KSHB has reported that years of slow progress left many community members and some City Council members losing faith the project would ever be completed under its existing developer, a sentiment that frames why Mayor Flora's acknowledgment of a new local development team represents meaningful progress for the stalled property, even with so much left unresolved.
