Traffic concerns delay Mission Drive development

This Nov. 11, 2015 file photo shows an area near Missouri 179 in Jefferson City where a development called "The Galleria at Mission Drive" is proposed by the Harvard Group.
This Nov. 11, 2015 file photo shows an area near Missouri 179 in Jefferson City where a development called "The Galleria at Mission Drive" is proposed by the Harvard Group.

A planned commercial development is still in the works for the area in Jefferson City northwest of Mission Drive where it intersects with Missouri 179, but concerns about the level of traffic it would attract have delayed progress.

A St. Louis-based development partnership registered as The Harvard Group LLC announced plans last year to develop approximately 80 acres located across Missouri 179 from the new St. Mary's Hospital.

The first phase of development for The Galleria at Mission Drive would be a commercial area on the property's north side including a five-unit retail shopping center of more than 264,000 square feet in total, as well as two 6,500-square-foot restaurants. The second phase, on the southern portion of the property, would construct a 200-unit, 168,000-square-foot retirement or assisted living facility, a hotel, two more restaurants and a 46,000-square-foot office building.

The initial phase of development, which Harvard Group representative Chris Kersten estimates could begin this fall, would also include road construction to extend Mission Drive to the new commercial area. Cole County approved the area as a Transportation Development District (TDD) in 2005, before it was annexed into Jefferson City limits, which would help fund the extension of Mission Drive by reimbursing costs through an additional 1 percent sales tax on retail purchases in the district.

However, a recently completed traffic study shows they might have more work to do on access to the development before construction can begin.

"We're working on redesigning that interchange so that it will function properly for the impact we're going to put in there," Kersten said. "Evidently, the design and the interchange they built, even though it had more impact figured in than the commercial and residential we're proposing, it does not function as designed."

Currently, Mission Drive's two lanes run underneath the Missouri 179 overpass, which has single-lane on- and off-ramps from Mission Drive.

The study predicts traffic could back up on Missouri 179 from the Mission Drive access because of vehicles entering the new development from the direction of West Edgewood Drive and vehicles entering the highway from the new development.

That's accounting for current traffic to and from the hospital, as well as to and from a potential high school in the area (Although no formal plans are currently in place to build a second public high school in Jefferson City, the school district owns land north of St. Mary's Hospital.), as well as projected new residential and commercial traffic to The Galleria at Mission Drive.

Trent Brooks, traffic engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation's Central District, said the next step is for the developers to propose improvements to the state-owned right-of-way for MoDOT's approval, which Kersten estimates will happen within the next two to three weeks.

"Generally when a development's going in, it will be up to them to make the improvements so that they're able to mitigate the impact that they're causing," Brooks said.

Potential solutions MoDOT officials have discussed with The Harvard Group include adding traffic signals on the on- and off-ramps, expanding Mission Drive underneath the overpass to four lanes, or even transforming the current diamond interchange to a "diverging diamond" - similar to the recently constructed access to the Columbia Mall where traffic crosses over to the opposite side of the road.

The developers will also work with Jefferson City officials on any improvements to Mission Drive, which will be maintained by the city. Kersten said at a November 2015 Cole County Commission meeting the group plans to request $800,000 from both the county and the city through the TDD.

So far, The Harvard Group has confirmed two restaurants that will be located in the development, Kersten said, and it's in negotiations with three large box retailers that could include a grocery store/pharmacy and sporting goods store.

The hotel slated for the development's second phase likely will be smaller than the 200 units and 111,300 square feet originally planned, he added, noting demand could decrease with the Puri Group of Enterprises' planned Courtyard by Marriott and Holiday Inn & Suites hotels to replace the existing Truman Hotel and with the eventual construction of a downtown convention center and hotel.

They also continue to negotiate with surrounding landowners to purchase 80 adjacent acres that would allow for an additional residential development of single- and multiple-family homes.

Kersten hopes to submit final zoning plans to the city no later than September, after which site preparation would begin with building construction likely to follow next spring. If all goes as planned, new restaurants and retailers could open for business as early as fall 2017, he said.

"It's just the interchange that's creating the slowdown at this point," Kersten said. "We're full steam ahead, and we're trying to get it wrapped up."