Olathe to demolish former Italian restaurant, other buildings for Santa Fe project
After the closure of Toni’s Italian Restaurant’s Olathe location last year, city planning documents show the restaurant’s former building will soon be demolished alongside a handful of other buildings, as the city gears up for an ambitious overhaul of East Santa Fe Street.
In order to make improvements on Santa Fe from Ridgeview Road to Mur-Len Road, Olathe had to acquire land and purchase properties, valued around $22 million. Now, the city readies to tear the buildings down, and is prepared to enter an agreement with a Kansas City demolition company to do the work.
A contractor will tear down buildings, disconnect and cap utilities between the 1800 and 1900 blocks of Santa Fe, and several other addresses nearby, according to a construction agreement approved by the Olathe City Council on Tuesday.
The demolition company will also remove and fill in foundations, and complete other work necessary to prepare the sites for road construction, the agreement states.
Buildings slated for demolition include a former Avis Car Rental shop, Erv’s Vaccums, the former Toni’s Italian Restaurant building, a dentist office, former vehicle maintenance shops, and a handful of others. Buildings on both the north side of Santa Fe, and the south side near the former Town Square Shopping Center, will be demolished.
Some of the buildings that are to be torn down were found to have asbestos, the agreement said. An inspection report was provided to the contractor.
Businesses closing down in the area, including Toni’s, The Double Nickel Bar and Grill, and others have cited the project as their reason to close or relocate. The project is expected to displace around 20 businesses.
Last month, the City Council approved an engineer’s survey for the final 27 pieces of land involving the city’s project, which allowed Olathe to acquire the parcels through negotiations with the owner or eminent domain.
Owners of Toni’s Italian said last year that it was hard for them to find another location in Olathe due to high rent costs.
The restaurant since opened a new location in Shawnee, at 22716 Midland Drive.
A spokesperson for the city of Olathe, Cody Kennedy, said last year that the city has been in frequent communication with the property owners and businesses affected by the project.
The city followed federal laws to provide advisories to tenants throughout the process, Kennedy said at the time.
Safety improvements at Santa Fe & I-35
City officials say the interchange at Santa Fe and Interstate 35 has a crash rate about six times the national average.
The roughly $200 million project will include a reconstructed interchange at I-35, new bridges, wider pavement, road realignments and extensions, new traffic signals, medians, sidewalks and other safety improvements.
Kansas Department of Transportation improvements on I-35 are tentatively set to begin later this year, and construction on Santa Fe should begin in late 2027.
The Olathe City Council approved a contract Tuesday with Industrial Salvage & Wrecking Co. Inc., based in Kansas City, for building demolitions on Santa Fe. The company is licensed to operate in Missouri and Kansas.
Bids for the demolition project ranged widely, from $511,700 to $1.3 million. Industrial Salvage & Wrecking was the lowest bid, according to the agenda item.
Previous reporting by The Star’s Jenna Thompson and Taylor O’Conner contributed.
This story was originally published February 4, 2026 at 9:15 AM.
