Plans to build a massive mixed-use development along U.S. Highway 169 in Olathe could bring hundreds of new jobs to a fast-growing corridor. On Tuesday, the Olathe City Council unanimously approved a series of zoning changes for Ward Development to create Park 169 on 247 acres northeast of 167th Street and Highway 169. Park 169 includes plans for townhomes, apartments, single-family homes and more than a dozen industrial buildings. The site is surrounded by homes to the east, undeveloped land to the south and industrial business parks to the west and north. A right-of-way for Burlington Northern Railroad sits between Highway 169 to the west and the Park 169 project boundary. The developer has submitted a request for the City Council to issue $252 million in industrial revenue bonds and approve a 10-year, 50% tax abatement for the industrial portion. The City Council is scheduled to review the bond request on Sept. 3. Industrial tenants have not been disclosed. According to Ward’s bond application, the industrial segment is expected to create 1,033 new jobs over the next decade. Ward will work with Fogel-Anderson Construction Co. as the contractor and Powell CWM as the architect for the industrial portion. Along the property’s western half, to the east of Highway 169, the developer plans 1.5 million square feet of industrial space on roughly 140 acres. Ward plans to build 13 speculative industrial buildings, each ranging from 62,000 to 264,000 square feet. Forty-two acres at the northeast corner will house five three-story apartment buildings, each containing 30 units. Those apartments will be surrounded by townhomes configured into 33 two-story fourplex buildings. To the south of the existing Madison Place subdivision, the Grain Valley developer will build 113 single-family homes on about 29 acres along the project’s eastern boundary. Thirteen townhome buildings, each containing eight to 10 units, are planned to the west of the single-family homes. The developer wants to plat 94 lots to house 188 duplex units on 35 acres between the industrial buildings to the west and the townhomes to the east. A new north-south collector road, to be called Barker Road, will be built at the center of the site, between 159th Street and 167th Street. Landscape berms are proposed on both sides of Barker Road to divide industrial and residential components. The residential portion is split between two school districts. Once construction is complete, K-12 students living in the apartments and townhomes north of 163rd Street will attend the Olathe School District. Students living in the townhomes, duplexes and single-family homes to the south would attend the Spring Hill School District. Curt Petersen, a Polsinelli PC attorney representing Ward Development, told the City Council the project site has been vacant for over 13 years. Petersen said the biggest challenge for the undeveloped property is striking a balance between meeting demand for workforce development and creating a project that won’t disrupt the people who live nearby. “It takes a long time to try to be both responsible for all the adjacent land uses, but also put something on the screen that over the next decade, over these phases, can actually be financed, built and successfully operated,” Petersen said. Petersen said once the project is complete, market demand will influence if the residential units will be listed for sale or rent. Although there was not a public hearing, the City Council heard from one neighbor. Thomas Stalnaker has lived in his home on 164th Terrace for 24 years. He objected to having an industrial development near residential housing. “Nowhere within the city of Olathe does this exist. There is not this concentration of medium industrial and residential on one little feeder street. It doesn’t exist, it’s intense,” Stalnaker said. Park 169 is part of a growing number of industrial projects south Olathe. Northwest of 167th and Highway 169, construction continues for Walmart’s 330,000-square-foot beef packaging facility. The $257 million plant is expected to begin production by June 2025. BlueScope Properties Group also is working to develop its third industrial warehouse in Great Plains Commerce Center.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal
