Lowe's Home Improvement opened last week and Costco Warehouse Club is scheduled to open this summer. Also committed to the center are CompUSA, Blue Ridge Bank & Trust, Panera Bread, Wendy's, McDonald's and an International House of Pancakes.
Eastland Center is being developed on 212 acres that was previously the Crackerneck Golf Course and nearby farmland. When complete, the center will have 550,000 sf of retail space, 1.3 milion sf of Class A office space, three hotels and several restaurants. The project is estimated to cost about $245 million.
Retail stores should be complete in about two years, with main office structures up in about three, according to Bruce Hahl, Independence community development director. Nearly $40 million in Tax Increment Financing money was used for the project, including $11 million for public facilities.
"This project and others nearby will have a significant impact on our city," Hahl said. "Independence is an older community and this new employment base will stimulate our economy. It is bringing Class A office space to the city and upscale housing is starting to fill in. The sales tax also means a great deal to the city's operating funds."
Crews are continuing to work on build sites and on a four-lane trafficway that will traverse through the development. There is a future plan to build a new bridge over the Little Blue River, which runs through the development.
There will also be walkways and bike paths constructed. Estimated costs for the parkway and bridge are more than $5 million, with another $2 million to be spent on infrastructure improvements.
Eastland Center is being developed by Eastland Center Associates in St. Louis. Developer Stephen Erhart, with Eastland Center Associates, also developed two other sizable projects in eastern Jackson County. Erhart Independence LLC was the developer of Bolger Square, a 350,000-sf center on 39th Street and Bolger Square West Shopping Center, both located north of the Eastland Center development.
Also located nearby is the Independence Shopping Center, the metro's second-largest indoor mall. It is estimated that the surrounding trade area is comprised of more than 350,000 people.
"When this is complete, we will have about 2.5-million sf of retail space in that vicinity," Hahl says. "And that should be about capacity. What we have so far has worked out very well. Retail sales in that area are significant. In that location, we are able to draw from Lee's Summit as well as Blue Springs."
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
