Topeka considers TIF District for area considered blighted at S.W. 29th and Wanamaker

The Villa West Shopping Center property at the northwest corner of S.W. 29th and Wanamaker Road is considered blighted under Kansas laws governing tax increment financing, Topeka city officials say.

The city’s governing body plans Feb. 12 to consider scheduling a March 19 public hearing, at which it would consider authorizing TIF financing for a project to make renovations and improvements at that site.

“The area qualifies as a ‘blighted area’ under the state TIF statutes because a majority of blighting factors exist to a degree throughout the area as a whole and contains a substantial number of deteriorating structures which create economic obsolescence,” said a document in the preliminary agenda packet for that meeting.