The Fairway City Council Monday evening approved an agreement with MREM Fairway Office Property LLC that will allow the city to explore replacing the Fairway Corporate Center, 4210 and 4220 Shawnee Mission Parkway, with an “active adult” apartment complex.
While developers did present preliminary plans to the city council, no development plans or redevelopment agreements have been made.
The funding agreement that the city council unanimously approved puts $25,000 in a fund for city staff to use for legal and administrative fees they’ll incur while exploring the apartment complex as an option.
The corporate center is adjacent to the former site of a Stroud’s restaurant currently being redeveloped into a multi-tenant property anchored by a Starbucks.
The new funding agreement also states that any costs that have incurred to date regarding the project are reimbursable by the developers, City Administrator Nathan Nogelmeier said.
“This [agreement] simply allows [the city attorney] and I to start the work behind the scenes with developers to figure out what exactly the project would entail from the city’s perspective,” Nogelmeier said.
Fairway Active Adult Apartments — the details
EPC Real Estate Group and Platform Ventures, a real estate holding company and investment firm, recently moved out of the Fairway Corporate Office and are proposing a $67.9 million apartment complex with 250 “active adult” units.
Austin Bradley, EPC vice president, said the 45-year-old office park is at 95% vacancy now that Platform left.
Dubbed Fairway Active Adult Apartments, Bradley said the target resident age at the apartment complex would be 55- to 84-years-old.
Developers would strip out the meals and the in-house care typically found at senior living facilities, which is why it’s called an “active adult” complex, he said.
The tentative plan also would include amenities like an outdoor community garden, a fitness center, a spa, pools and fire pits, Bradley said.
Developers would be requesting about $15 million in tax increment financing to help offset the costs of demolishing the office complex and the new two-story parking garage that the apartments would sit on top of, he said.
Bradley said the timeline for the potential project, which the city council has agreed to continue discussing through the approval of the funding agreement, is as follows:
- Planning and entitlements and incentives discussions will be held from now until September.
- From October to March 2022, developers would conduct design and documentation related to the site.
- Construction could begin as early as April 2022, with occupants moving in two years later in spring 2024.
