KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – The nonprofit developer behind the Linwood Shopping Center and the former operator of its Sun Fresh grocery store are suing the City of Kansas City, Missouri.
The two claim City Hall broke its promises, let crime run wild, and helped turn a struggling corner back into a food desert.
In a lawsuit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, Midtown Grocers, LLC and Community Builders of Kansas City (CBKC) accuse the city, which served as their landlord, of failing to live up to its lease and other legal duties at the city‑owned Linwood Shopping Center near 31st Street and Prospect Avenue.
CBKC is a long‑time, African‑American‑led nonprofit developer. Midtown Grocers operated the Sun Fresh store until it closed. The only defendant named in the suit is the city.
Claim: City broke lease and ignored its own rules
Sun Fresh Market Closed, Linwood Shopping Center(KCTV)
The suit claims the city promised in its lease to manage and maintain the Linwood Shopping Center ‘in a first‑class manner.’ Instead, the filing claims city officials allowed the property to fall into ‘chronic nuisance’ conditions in violation of the city’s own nuisance ordinance.
The petition describes a steady stream of crime in and around the grocery store: guns, drug dealing, prostitution, public sex acts, assaults, and constant shoplifting. The plaintiffs say they repeatedly asked the city and police for help, but got little effective response.
According to the lawsuit, city officials often cited a lack of jail space and shifting policies about arrests and enforcement as reasons for not cracking down on illegal activity at the site.
Plaintiffs argue that by failing to control crime and maintain the shopping center, the city violated its lease obligations and local law, driving away customers and workers and making it impossible to keep the store open.
Food desert returns to a mostly Black neighborhood
Very little fresh produce was available for shoppers at Sun Fresh Market.(KCTV5)
The closure of the Sun Fresh left the surrounding, predominantly Black neighborhood without a full‑service grocery store. The lawsuit says that outcome was avoidable and that the city had a duty, both as landlord and as a public entity, to help protect the investment and keep the center safe.
Midtown Grocers and CBKC argue they initially turned the store profitable. But as crime grew worse and security costs soared, the store’s finances collapsed.
The lawsuit says the operator and developer spent $5,000 to $6,000 a week on security, trying to make up for what they describe as the city’s failure to manage and police its own property.
Even with those efforts, the suit claims, the business lost more than $800,000 in 2023 alone. The plaintiffs say the losses in 2024 and 2025 were even larger.
Money and promises
Crates and shelves were nearly bare in the produce section at Sun Fresh Market.(KCTV5)
Beyond the lease dispute, the lawsuit also focuses on money the city allegedly promised but did not fully deliver.
According to the filing, the City Council approved up to $1.75 million in financial support for the grocery project. The plaintiffs say they never received the full amount that was authorized, leaving them short of funds they were counting on to keep the store open and invest in improvements.
The suit claims that shortfall, combined with mounting losses and security expenses, helped push the Sun Fresh Grocery Store to closure.
Alleged double standard and discrimination
Empty shelves for days have many families concerned who shop at Sun Fresh off of Prospect Avenue.(KCTV5/Grace Smith)
The plaintiffs also argue in their suit that the city treated them differently from a prior, white‑owned, for‑profit operator at the same site.
According to the lawsuit, when a white‑led company ran the grocery before Midtown Grocers took over, the city was more supportive and more flexible. The filing claims that once CBKC and its affiliates, led by Black leadership, took control, the city became less cooperative and did not provide the same level of assistance or enforcement.
The petition links their experience to what it calls a broader pattern of discrimination and mismanagement at City Hall. It points to other discrimination complaints and lawsuits involving former City Manager Brian Platt, and alleges racial double standards in how the city enforces safety and nuisance rules across different neighborhoods.
The suit places the Linwood Shopping Center fight inside a longer‑running political debate over whether, and how, Kansas City backs businesses in largely Black areas, especially around 31st and Prospect.
What the plaintiffs want
Community leaders gathered outside a Midtown Sun Fresh Market to share their frustrations and plans for a safer Kansas City.
Midtown Grocers and CBKC are seeking monetary damages for what they describe as substantial financial losses caused by the city’s actions and inaction. They argue the city is responsible for the decline of the grocery store because it failed to:
Maintain and manage the shopping center in a ‘first‑class’ manner, as required by the leaseEnforce its own ‘chronic nuisance’ ordinance despite ongoing crimeProvide the full amount of financial support the City Council had approved
The lawsuit says those failures turned a previously profitable store into a money‑losing operation that could not survive, and left nearby residents without a neighborhood grocery once again.
COMPLETE COVERAGE: SUN FRESH ON PROSPECT
As of now, the city has not filed a response in court, and no trial date has been set.
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