Overland Park City Council to hold a public hearing on STAR bonds for BluHawk project

Overland Park leaders on Monday night will consider a developer’s request for economic development incentives for the $649 million BluHawk project at 159th Street and Antioch Road.

Price Brothers, an Overland Park development firm, is due before the Overland Park City Council for a public hearing on whether BluHawk can receive $205 million worth of sales tax revenue bonds — known as STAR bonds — to help fund the project’s destination attractions.

STAR bonds redirect local and state sales taxes generated by a development to pay for certain project costs. They’re meant for developments that have broad enough appeal to attract at least a third of its visitors from more than 100 miles away.

In BluHawk’s case, its developers believe 3.6 million people will visit the development each year. Of those, 1.3 million (35 percent) will travel from outside of a 100-mile radius to visit BluHawk’s hockey arena and its branch of the Cosmosphere, a space museum based in Hutchinson. The 7,500-seat hockey arena proposed for BluHawk would serve a United States Hockey League amateur team.

Those visitor figures are based on a feasibility study carried out by Canyon Research Southwest, Inc., a commercial real estate consultant frequently called to make projections for local development projects.

Overland Park council members will also consider a zoning request for high-rise apartment buildings, office space, hotel space and other retail projects at BluHawk. The Overland Park Planning Commission last month recommended approval of the zoning request.

In all, 1.2 million square feet of development are contemplated in the zoning request, including 824,711 square feet of retail and 248,000 square feet of office space. A special use permit for three hotels buildings that include a total of 375 hotel rooms will also be considered on Monday.

Nearby property owners attempted to file a protest petition against the zoning, but Overland Park staff deemed that it was not valid.

(Look for news coverage of tonight’s meeting at KansasCity.com.)

This story was originally published June 20, 2016 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Overland Park City Council to hold a public hearing on STAR bonds for BluHawk project."