Henderson Engineers settles its lawsuit against Mission Gateway

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Just two months before the case was headed for trial in Johnson County, Lenexa-based engineering firm Henderson Engineers has settled its claims against the developers of the stalled Mission Gateway project.

Henderson Engineers claimed in a lawsuit filed a year ago that the firm had done more than $400,000 worth of work for the Gateway Developers LLC, a business affiliate of Syracuse, New York’s the Cameron Group, but never got paid.

Henderson Engineers is one in a long list of partners on the Mission Gateway project that claim they didn’t get paid for work done on a mixed-used development in Mission that has spent a decade languishing in inaction.

Representatives from Henderson Engineers and the Cameron Group declined to comment on the settlement; the terms were not disclosed in court filings (which is typical of settlements between private parties).

The settlement may be a kernel of good news for a project otherwise mired in bad news. As has been documented here and elsewhere, Mission Gateway was set to replace the old Mission Center Mall at Johnson Drive and Shawnee Mission Parkway. But for all kinds of reasons, some of which make sense and others that don’t, the Cameron Group has gotten no meaningful work done at what’s one of the prime pieces of commercial real estate in northeast Johnson County.

Tom Valenti, the principal developer of Mission Gateway, wants Wal-Mart to anchor the latest version of his development. It would include apartments, other retail, a hotel and maybe office space if Valenti ever lands a tenant. 

But Valenti has a bit of a crisis with the Mission City Council. Last month, Valenti couldn’t even muster up enough votes on the council to pass a preliminary site plan, which is usually a perfunctory vote that doesn’t address things like public financing. The development has been sent back to the Mission Planning Commission for further evaluation. It’s not currently on any future agendas for the planning commission.