Dirt could soon move on Joplin’s massive Prospect Village project
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Joplin’s Prospect Village development is moving closer to construction as developers prepare for major infrastructure work at the former International Paper property near 20th Street and Range Line Road.
The Joplin City Council approved the final plat for part of the development in July.
The Woodsonia Marketplace Community Improvement District also sought bids this summer for infrastructure work.
That would be some of the first major physical progress on a project that has spent much of the past two years going through planning, financing and city approvals.
Prospect Village has been proposed as a roughly 80-acre mixed-use development centered around a publicly owned indoor and outdoor sports complex.
Current city plans call for an indoor athletic facility and two outdoor artificial-turf fields designed to attract youth and amateur sports tournaments.
The larger development is also expected to include about 375 apartments, a hotel, additional restaurants and retail businesses and a major anchor retailer.
City officials have said they would like that anchor to be a grocery store.
Joplin officials see the sports complex as the project’s main economic driver. City projections estimate it could attract tens of thousands of out-of-state visitors each year, creating additional hotel stays and spending at restaurants and other local businesses.
The project is being supported by private investment along with tax increment financing and community improvement districts that will help pay for the sports complex, infrastructure and other eligible development costs.
Construction of the sports complex itself is not expected to begin until 2027, according to Woodsonia President Drew Snyder.
