Hy-Vee in development tangle in Kansas City suburb

A tiff between Hy-Vee and the city of Leawood might cause the grocer to pull out of the Kansas City suburb.

According to the Kansas City Business Journal, management of the supermarket chain said it would close its Leawood, Kan., store on June 1 due to disagreements with the city over remodeling plans or, barring that, build a new one in another part of town.

Problem is, Hy’Vee’s alternate plan to construct a new store doesn’t fit with the city’s new 135th Street Corridor Plan, leaving company officials in a quandary.

The remodeling quarrel stems from Hy-Vee’s proposal to create a community improvement district to collect a 1-cent sales tax that would help finance the grocery store improvements. Leawood City Administrator Scott Lambers told the business journal at least $1 million of the projected $3.5 million generated in the CID was designated for interior improvements at the grocery store.

"Our CID policy does not allow financing for internal improvements," Lambers told the journal. "That appeared to be a poison pill for them."


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