Mayor Jean Stothert told KFAB's Morning News she has revoked the city’s incentives offer for Crossroads Mall after developer Rod Yates sent deficient redevelopment plans.
Stothert says they have notified Yates that an application for tax increment financing is incomplete and Yates has not provided proof of where the money to finance the project is coming from. Stothert says he also missed an August 14th deadline to re-submit his TIF application. The city was proposing $118 million in incentives.
She says Yates has also not shown proof that he owns some of the properties included in his plan. "Things just haven't moved along quickly enough with this developer," Stothert says. "It's disappointing to me and it's disappointing to everyone in Omaha."
Yates has been working with property owner Frank Krejci since 2011, but the mall continues to sit mostly empty.
Stothert still thinks the Crossroads project will get done. "There is nothing more than I want to see that area developed and I know the owner Frank Krejci wants to develop it too."
Stothert says she doesn't believe Crossroads will sit for several more years. "I think something will happen there and it will be great."
She says "there are local developers that are very successful that get the job done that are very interested in crossroads. But it's time that we move along."