$300M plan for Leawood: Hundreds of apartments, restaurants, offices, amphitheater
Plans for the next phases of a massive development near 135th Street and State Line Road in Leawood are moving through City Hall, including hundreds of apartments, brownstone rowhouses, restaurants, a park and amphitheater.
Called East Village of Leawood (not to be confused with the similarly named area east of downtown Kansas City), the development on 116 vacant acres has stirred up controversy over the past few years, with neighbors and homeowner associations concerned about aesthetics, traffic and density. After making several compromises, the developer last year won rezoning and preliminary approval from a split, 5-4 City Council vote, with the tie broken by Mayor Peggy Dunn.
Lenexa-based Oddo Development is building the $300 million project in six phases, with more than 600 luxury apartments, million-dollar homes, duplexes, an assisted living facility, a grocery store, retail, restaurants, offices and green space. This past March, the council voted 5-3 to grant final approval to the first two phases of construction, which will feature 26 single-family homes, 12 luxury duplexes and 26 apartment buildings.
Now, the developer is seeking final approval for the third and fourth phases, with more housing and a park, at the northeast corner of 135th Street and Pawnee Lane.
On Tuesday evening, the Leawood Planning Commission voted 5-2 in favor, advancing the project to the City Council. Plans include 36 brownstone homes, four apartment buildings with more than 300 units, nearly 15,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 9,000 square feet of office space, as well as a nearly two-acre park with an amphitheater. Residents will have access to a rooftop pool, dog park and community garden.
The developer says apartments would rent for a starting price of $1,800 for a one bedroom.
Planning commissioners raised questions about parking, traffic and over-saturation of the luxury apartment market, but ultimately approved the plans. They noted they had not received concerns from residents about approving these later phases of the project, hoping that’s a sign there is less opposition as the work moves along.
The City Council could discuss the plans as early as its next meeting on Aug. 7.
Single-family homes are expected to be built first, with preliminary work taking place before construction can begin in the coming months.
