BRENTWOOD, Mo. – Brentwood business owners feared they would be forced to leave their area because of a $400 million development to revamp a section of Manchester Road.
Roxanne Maier owns a dance studio in Brentwood. She launched a petition drive to inform officials of how merchants feel about the new plan.
“What I don’t like about the plan is it really takes away people choices, and I don’t feel we have a lot of room to negotiate for anything by blighting the area,” Maier said. “They nullified our lease, and we have a building that we’ve already spend $100,000 to build out. Our fear is that we’re going to have to move and do this all over again somewhere else, and I can promise you it will not be in Brentwood because I don’t think Brentwood City Hall takes care of its businesses. Brentwood approved a developer for the $400 million dollar project that will redo a stretch of Manchester Road. It will bring in mixed-use development with office space, retail, entertainment, a hotel, residential, and 600 apartments.”
Brentwood city officials, including the mayor, believe it would bring in more revenue to the city.
The city also has the power to use eminent domain when negotiations fail. Karen Smith said she did not like that deal.
“I don’t believe in the use of eminent domain,” she said. “They are saying they are only going to use it for holdout properties, but the threat of eminent domain is the use of eminent domain. It’s not two willing partners coming to the table to negotiate.”
The city is now completing a flood mitigation project for the area to stop the flooding along Manchester Road.
Long-time merchants feared they would not be a part of the plan, which they said was unfair considering all the years they have supported the City of Brentwood.