Legoland developers switch plans from Kansas to Mo.

? Developers wanting to bring a theme park based on the Lego building blocks to the Kansas City area are now looking on the Missouri side of the state line.

RED Development, which is working with Legoland, has abandoned an earlier plan to build the park in Olathe, Kan., after discussions with local officials fell through.

The firm is now talking with Lee’s Summit and Missouri officials to build the park as the centerpiece of a 100-acre, $539 million development that would also include a Sea Life aquarium and a retail and office project. Taxes from the stores and offices would be used to help pay for the project.

Developers are expected to file a formal proposal to the Lee’s Summit Tax Increment Financing Commission next month.

“We’ve tested the waters and feel comfortable, but there’s obviously a process to go through,” said Dan Lowe, a RED principal.

If built, the park would be the second Legoland in the U.S., joining a theme park based on the Danish toy that was built in San Diego in 1999. There are three Legolands in Europe.

The California park draws an estimated 1.5 million visitors a year, and experts say a Kansas City Legoland would draw tourists from throughout the Midwest.

“It’s a major opportunity for not just Lee’s Summit, but the state of Missouri,” said Lee’s Summit Mayor Karen Messerli. “I’m very encouraged by the state’s initial response.”

Under the plan, city and state tax incentives would pay for $187 million, or about a third, of the park’s cost. RED, Townsend Capital and London-based Merlin Entertainments Group, which owns the Legoland brand, would pay for the rest.

Last summer, RED said it planned to build a Legoland in Johnson County, Kan., as the anchor of a $787 million development. Olathe city officials asked the developers to move the project’s proposed location to the site of the troubled Great Mall of the Great Plains.

The plan eventually fell through, because the sides couldn’t agree on tax incentives and Legoland officials worried they wouldn’t be able to open on schedule.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” said John Ussher, Legoland’s development executive. “When they asked us to switch sites to the mall, I was doubtful we could get it done by 2009 because of demolition and other factors.”

City officials in Olathe said the numbers just didn’t work.

“We’re one of several cities that looked at trying to make this happen,” said Mayor Michael Copeland. “We set some expectations to the developer – a lesser burden on the public sector and mitigating the significant risk to taxpayers – and our council never wavered.

“To the extent the developer can work with another city, it would be tremendous to bring Legoland to Kansas City.”

RED has already worked with Lee’s Summit to build a $144 million, 550,000-square-foot shopping center named Summit Fair. The developers flew Messerli, her grandchildren and other city representatives to the California Legoland in mid-November to give them a better idea about the project.

The new development is cheaper than the Olathe plan because it includes fewer attractions, dropping such things as a 7,000-seat arena, a 1,200-seat amphitheater, an indoor ski slope, soccer fields and a whitewater rafting attraction.

The project will include a 250-room resort hotel, a 25,000-square-foot aquarium, a “festival” retail village with up to 10,000 square feet of stores and restaurants and another attraction operated by Merlin. That’s in addition to the 550,000- to 800,000-square-foot retail and office complex RED plans to build on 55 acres nearby.