City officials rip now-jeopardized Citadel Plaza

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Two months ago, the members of the Kansas City Finance and Audit committee unanimously and enthusiastically approved a plan to issue bonds for the long-awaited Citadel Plaza shopping center at 63rd Street and Prospect Avenue.

Today, those same members angrily denied the developer’s request for $20 million from city coffers and admonished everyone involved for incompetence. Now, a project 15 years in the making that’s made a mess of a busy intersection is facing a very uncertain future. So uncertain, even the project’s staunchest supporter had a grave forecast.

“The complexity of the project is such that, if we don’t do it by the end of the year, it’s dead, period,” Councilman Terry Riley said.