When the window of time for a project to complete construction closes and the work stalls out, the door for possible damage swings wide open.

Once the one- to two-year period passes, a project simply isn’t the same one that was approved and permitted, architects and engineers say. This can lead to greater costs, through assessments or simply starting over.

The long-stalled Mission Gateway project provides an example: Workers poured concrete and erected some walls in 2018, but nothing has happened since. 

The project’s developers won final approval in mid-January on their latest master plan and can restart work on the $268 million mixed-use.

Although some material — such as utility piping, manholes or curb inlets — can sit out in weather for a year, that’s not true for other components, said Matt Kist, an associate in the Kansas City office of engineering firm Kimley-Horn, based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Read more in the Kansas City Business Journal.