Olathe looks for developers to buy, refashion city-owned property in downtown

Olathe officials this month took another step in the city’s long-term goal of reshaping its downtown corridor by offering up three city-owned properties for sale.

The city sent out a request for proposals on Jan. 3 seeking interest for development opportunities on two properties along Santa Fe Street near Olathe City Hall and another property now occupied by the downtown branch of the Olathe Public Library.

In all, nearly 6 acres are up for the taking in a downtown district occupied by some retail and restaurant establishments. But it’s also dominated by government offices — Olathe City Hall and Johnson County’s administration building, detention center and courthouse.

City officials say they’re leaving it up to the market to determine the type of development that would arrive, but they hoped for projects that would promote density and quality of life.

“We would love to see housing, some type of multifamily that will bring density downtown to create the environment for other things we would like to see downtown,” said Olathe City Manager Michael Wilkes. “We’ve got law offices, we’ve got bondsmen, those kinds of things. We want to create an environment for a more livable downtown.”

Over the last decade, Olathe has taken incremental steps to prepare its downtown for private development. The city spent $42 million elevating train tracks that run across Santa Fe Street and other streets east of downtown to keep trains from clogging traffic. It also reconfigured railroad crossings in the western half of downtown to keep trains from blaring their whistles, once a frequent annoyance in the central business district.

A streetscape project was completed to make Santa Fe Street more attractive to pedestrians.

Johnson County voters last November approved a sales tax increase to fund a $188 million new courthouse, which will be built directly west of Olathe City Hall and replace an existing courthouse. County officials gave the existing building poor marks for aesthetics and efficiency.

With those millions spent by taxpayers, Olathe hopes private money will follow.

 

“I think the council was beginning to raise the question: We’ve spent the money, where’s the private investment?” Wilkes said.

The city will soon find out. Jan. 24 is the deadline for responses to the city’s solicitation.

Wilkes said the city wants to keep the Olathe library’s presence downtown. That could mean a new library building to replace the one that has stood since 1979.

Emily Baker, director of the Olathe Public Library, said no major renovations or expansions have taken place at the building since 1996, when the structure was rewired to accommodate new technology. Baker added the current downtown library — one of two locations in Olathe’s library system, which is separate from the Johnson County Public Library — is too small for modern library needs, like meeting and event spaces.

“Our building has stood the test of time, structurally,” Baker said. “It’s a building with limestone walls and a copper roof, and we’re landlocked, so it’s not the easiest to expand.”

Another property listed for sale is a surface parking lot across the street from Olathe City Hall.

The last one is a city block northwest of Santa Fe Street and Kansas Avenue, which is mostly surface parking and also includes an old fire station building. Olathe once had a plan with a private developer to redevelop that block, but the recession wiped out those prospects. The building is now occupied by Olathe’s housing department.

The city said it would look favorably on a proposal that includes a grocery store on all or part of that site.

Wilkes said he doesn’t yet have a price in mind for each of the three properties. One developer could buy all three properties, or multiple firms could buy the properties separately.

“We want to leave it up to the market,” Wilkes said. “We’re not real estate developers. We just happen to be landowners who want to get things done in our downtown.”

This story was originally published January 18, 2017 at 6:44 PM with the headline "Olathe looks for developers to buy, refashion city-owned property in downtown."