Blue Springs development still making progress

There was a time when Chapman Farms was always part of  the regular meeting of the Blue Springs Planning Commission.

A rezoning issue here, a concept plan change there.

Now?

Not a peep since March 2008 – at least not from the project’s principal developer.

That may sound like bad news, but one of the developers in the project and a member of the city’s community development department say the project is on schedule and is making advances.

“What we’ve seen in the last six to eight months isn’t so much the paperwork,” Jim Holley, assistant director of the Community Development office, said. “The construction, we know, has been ongoing.”

One subdivision – The Orchards at Chapman Farms, a cluster of four-plexes – is finished, and others are gaining steam.

Within the proposed 900-acre housing, retail and commercial business project, housing subdivisions like Greenbriar, Lakeside and the Gardens are partially built.

Tom Williams, one of three developers operating Green Fields Development LLC, said eight of the original 10 subdivisions have begun or have been developed by subdevelopers, while six have started actual construction.

At the same time, Williams said lack of available financing due to the current economy has postponed several transactions with prospective buyers, though he said upon the economy’s recovery,  those transactions should be completed.

“For several of our prospective buyers, our discussions had progressed to the point of having draft contract agreements,” he wrote.

Since December 2007, Williams said significant progress has been made, including a site for a new Lee’s Summit elementary school (which school officials announced to the commission last year), financial service pad sites for Union and Commerce banks, a signed letter of intent with a restaurant user and the completion of the Garden City Bank at the intersection of Missouri 7 and Colbern Road.

Williams said Green Fields also obtained a certificate of need for an assisted-care facility.

Having the ability to plan and complete some aspects of the project since the recession began has been because of Green Field’s goal to deal with smaller banks.

“Given the conservative nature of local lenders, Chapman Farms has benefited from not having sub-prime home loans,” Williams wrote in an email.

“We view ourselves as most fortunate to have been able to accomplish (certain projects) during the largest recession since the Great Depression.”

Having been planned and begun before the current recession, the Chapman Farms project has remained relatively intact from when it was first proposed several years ago. It’s gone through several changes, mostly in general concept, but the overall design has remained faithful to the original concept.

“Based on our original project schedule,” Williams wrote, “the project is significantly ahead of schedule, though certainly the present global economic downturn has impacted the present speed of development.”

Other developments include last year’s purchase by the city of about 103 acres of land – 76  acres north of Colbern Road and 26 acres north of Wyatt Road – for $2.6 million from Williams. Plans for the land include more park space for residents in District 3.

Williams also said his group has made additional investments  with other partners, though he didn’t specify what they were.

“The purchases will allow the team to expand upon the original vision of the project and provide additional amenities to residents there,” Williams said.

As for a completion date, there is none.

“The timeline for large-scale mixed-use projects is measured in years – not months and days,” he wrote. “Projects of (this size) take many years to be fully developed.”