[FONT=Verdana]Demolition started Monday morning on the former [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]Mission[/FONT][FONT=Verdana]Center[/FONT][FONT=Verdana] mall's parking garage to make way for The Gateway, a $380 million mixed-use suburban residential real estate development. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]The 17-acre, 1.3 million-square-foot development will have residential, retail, hotel and office space, and green spaces and open entertainment venues, the developer, Cameron Group LLC of Syracuse, N.Y., said in a release.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]The project will have 350 condominiums and row houses for purchase; 500,000 square feet of retail space for restaurants, fashion retailers and entertainment venues; 180,000 square feet of office space; a top-rated 150-room hotel; an extension campus of [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]Johnson[/FONT][FONT=Verdana]County[/FONT][FONT=Verdana]Community College[/FONT][FONT=Verdana]; rooftop gardens; and more than 3 acres of public green space. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]The Gateway is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2008. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Kansas City-based Slaggie Architects Inc., chosen in December, is the project's architect. Kansas City-based Walton Construction Co. is the general contractor. Prudential Kansas City Realty is the real estate broker. Zimmer Real Estate Services LC is the office space leasing agent. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]The future ownership of [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]Mission[/FONT][FONT=Verdana]Center[/FONT][FONT=Verdana] came into question in July 2004, when Copaken White & Blitt said it had reached an agreement to sell the 350,000-square-foot enclosed mall to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Wal-Mart's plan to redevelop the site as home to a 203,000-square-foot supercenter, however, was squelched when the Mission City Council adopted anti-big-box zoning changes the following month. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana]Published [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]May 15, 2006[/FONT][FONT=Verdana] by the [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]Kansas City[/FONT][FONT=Verdana] Business Journal[/FONT]