Developer Larino to break ground on $26M center near KC

Though developer Paul Larino was granted a third contract extension this week by Springfield Public Schools for his purchase of the former Hickory Hills school, the developer is moving forward later this month on a $26 million commercial development in Grain Valley, near Kansas City. A groundbreaking is scheduled for April 23.

Through his company S.G. Property Management, Larino is partnering with the city of Grain Valley to bring a 24-acre mixed-use development to the city, which would include a movie theater and a roughly 50,000-square-foot shopping center, according to a news release from Todd Chambers of Springfield-based Chambers Real Estates Services LLC, who is serving as marketing representative for the project.

The anchor theater would be managed by Liberty-based B&B Theatres, which operates a theater in Ozark, Larino's hometown.

Construction of the theater is pegged to begin mid-May, with the theater scheduled to open in late November. Retail shops would be constructed after the theater is finished, the release said.

According to the release, S.G. Property Management has been working with Grain Valley for nearly two years on the planned development.

The city and the Missouri Department of Transportation are committing $18 million for road improvements near the facility, the release said.