Developer asks Cape Girardeau council to release $5 million in bond proceeds to finish West Park Mall buildouts

Lucas Haley, co-owner and project manager for the West Park Mall project, asked the Cape Girardeau City Council on July 20 to allow the release of the remaining $5,000,000 in bond proceeds to reimburse construction expenses at the mall.

Haley told the council the $5 million is already held in a trustee account as part of a $21,700,000 bond offering from October 2024 and that $16,700,000 of that bond allocation has been spent on the project. He said the development has attracted 10 national tenants (eight new to Cape), renovated roughly 140,000 square feet and totaled about $40,000,000 invested to date. Haley said sales in the recently redeveloped east wing are expected to reach $24,000,000 this year, up from $2,000,000 in 2024, and that overall occupancy in the mall has risen from about 62% at acquisition to roughly 91% with two additional tenants planning openings in the coming months.

"We're asking the city council to remove the final hurdle and allow the money to be released," Haley said. He emphasized that the request would not create new public spending: "There's no new money and there's no new process in our ask. The money has already been received through the bond offering; it is literally sitting in an account with the bond offering trustee." He added that any disbursement would be made only as reimbursement for documented, on-site construction invoices reviewed by city staff and paid by the bond trustee.

Council members pressed Haley on why the funds remain in the trustee account and on how the original redevelopment agreement allocated the money. Haley said the remaining $5,000,000 had been placed in a Transportation Development District (TDD) bucket during the bond budgeting because tenants and exact construction budgets were not finalized when the bond closed; the redevelopment agreement restricted that TDD portion to exterior work (parking, landscaping, roadways) and therefore must be amended to allow the money to be used for on-site tenant buildouts.

One council member raised concerns about relying on incentive buckets and described the request as poor financial planning, saying, "I still say no." Another council member urged using the funds now to sustain momentum: "Let's get those tenants in. Let's put that in now," arguing that the immediate economic activity would generate sales and property-tax revenue for the city.

Haley said a negative vote would not return money to the city budget; instead, bondholders would be repaid and the funds would leave the project. He warned that construction on three national-tenant buildouts that are under way would stop almost immediately without access to the trustee funds and that ongoing lease negotiations for a fourth national tenant would be jeopardized.

Council did not take a formal vote on releasing the funds during the study session; Haley's presentation and the subsequent questions were recorded for council consideration. The item will return to the council for formal action at a future meeting, where any amendment to the redevelopment agreement and the release of funds would require official approval.