A lack of interest is forcing Roeland Park’s Ad-Hoc Development Committee to shift its development focus for the old pool site, known as The Rocks. The city has been working to generate interest for the site from a restaurant, hotel, and adventure course – as depicted in the architectural rendering being used for marketing purposes shown above.
Zip KC and Sunflower Hotel Group had shown initial interest in the site but have not followed through with formal offers. The city also did not receive any responses for its request for qualification, or RFQ, which invited potentially interested parties to present development concepts for The Rocks, councilmembers heard Monday.
City administrator Keith Moody called the lack of response “disappointing.”
The Ad-Hoc Development Committee will begin considering alternative businesses for the development including multi-family development, high-end self-storage facility, and a data center. The storage facility and data center would be located at the lower level of the development (lot 3) with multi-family on the upper levels, said Moody.
Notes from the development committee’s Oct. 11 meeting acknowledge that the storage facility and data center on lot 3 “could deter the hotel and restaurant concepts envisioned for lots 1 and 2 respectively.”
The city had gone so far as to create the mechanism for the collection of a hotel tax in the city in preparation for the possible development.
Moody said two businesses that provide high-end self-storage had demonstrated interest in The Rocks previously, but the city had indicated at the time that a storage facility did not align with its vision for the site. The city also plans to discuss options with the two developers that showed interest in building multi-family property at the northeast corner of Johnson Drive and Roe.
