Developers have rolled out a $55 million plan to rehab a historic pocket of homes in De Soto with the aim of turning the area into a site for affordable housing near the new Panasonic EV battery plant. Gardner-based Wheatland Investment Group made its first public presentation of the plan at the De Soto City Council meeting on Aug. 15. The proposal includes an application to create a Kansas Reinvestment Housing Incentive District at the site of the Clearview Village complex at 36000 W. 103rd St. Clearview Village, also commonly referred to as Clearview City, is located across the street from the $4 billion, 4.7-million-square-foot future Panasonic plant, which sits on a small portion of the one-time Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant. Clearview Village currently houses about 600 residents, roughly 9% of De Soto’s population. The proposed housing district, sometimes called an RHID, would allow the city to reimburse the developers with revenue generated by property taxes in the new development that could then be used to pay for some eligible improvements, including replacing water lines, repairing sewers and resurfacing streets in the area. Speaking to the city council earlier this month, David Rhodes, co-founder of Wheatland Investments Group, explained their estimated $55 million plan to rehab the village, including renovating its 242 existing structures and adding 99 new units. Other changes include: Installing new fire hydrants, Repairing and/or replacing storm and sanitary sewers, Replacing water lines,
Adding a water connection point on Sunflower Road, and Resurfacing and repairing streets. The group would work on the changes to the pipes and sewers first before working on the buildings, Rhodes said. Though they’re maintaining the 85-year-old pipes, sewer and water lines, Rhodes said approval of the housing incentive district would help pay for expenses to improve them. “We feel like we need to improve the infrastructure under the ground before we do all this improvement above ground,” he said.
Source: Johnson County Post
