On Monday, the Eudora City Commission chose to negotiate the redevelopment of the Nottingham Property with a Kansas City, Mo., real estate development firm with experience in high-profile projects on both sides of the state line.

On a 3-0 vote Monday, commissioners agreed to enter into negotiations with CBC Real Estate Group on an agreement about how the 15-acre Nottingham property will be developed. Commissioner Tim Bruce recused himself from the vote because of a possible conflict of interest, and Commissioner Jolene Born was absent.

The decision was made with little comment from commissioners, who approved the developer recommended by a selection committee that included City Manager Gary Ortiz, Assistant City Manager Barack Matite, city bond counselor Gary Anderson, city financial consultant Tom Kaleko and Commissioner Bruce. The committee interviewed representatives and reviewed applications from CBC and ONE80 Development LLC, the two firms that responded to a city request for proposals, which hit the streets in January.

In relaying the recommendation, Eudora City Manager Gary Ortiz said CBC was “far more preferable” to the selection committee. The committee gave CBC the edge in experience, financial resources and adherence to the Nottingham guidelines developed with community input to provide a vision for the site’s redevelopment, he said.

According to CBC’s website, the firm offers services in development, development management, multi-unit development, property management and consulting. Among the projects CBC has been a part of through one or more of those services are Woodside Village in Westwood, the Men’s Warehouse development in Zona Rosa, the Liberty, Mo, Triangle project and Eisenhower Crossing in Lansing.

A conceptual plan CBC provided the city shows a 30,000-square-foot anchor store on the southern portion of the property with four retail buildings to the north. The largest of those buildings would be 20,000 square feet, and three would be 10,000-square-foot buildings with second-story apartments.

Matite emphasized those drawings were conceptual and could, and likely would, be changed for a variety of reasons as the redevelopment agreement was negotiated.

There is no timeline for completing the pre-development agreement, which will spell out the responsibilities of the city and CBC, but the city stated in the RFP that the goal was to start construction in September.

It is assumed the redevelopment agreement would include creation of a tax increment financing district. TIF district arrangements capture tax revenue generated from a property’s development to pay for a number of costs associated with its improvement, including land acquisition, demolition and public and onsite improvements. By state statute, those tax revenues can include franchise fees and sales and property taxes.

In order to have a hand in the development of its most important gateway, the city purchased the property from the Eudora school district for $850,000 on which the closed Nottingham Elementary School and former district football stadium now stand. It then secured a four-year temporary note of about $1 million to cover the purchase price’s principal and interest.

In other business, the Commission:

• Approved a downtown grant request not to exceed $2,000 to the The Fork, 826 Main St. The restaurant’s owners were awarded a $3,000 grand in February to help with the costs of opening the restaurant but ran into unexpected expenses, which have also delayed its opening. Co-owner Matthew Houser said he expected the restaurant to open late this week.

• Arrived at consensus after a workshop to go forward with the directional sign and light pole banner designs. The directional signs proposal will place wayfarer signs at key entrances and locations in Eudora. Although of different design depending on location, the signs would the share key “branding” elements of the Eudora logo and its black, blue and green color scheme.