Restaurants and entertainment continue to be a driving force for development in Shawnee and Lenexa for 2023.
As the worst of the pandemic fades, some office and business park developments are coming back. And in Lenexa, a major hospital development continues in the City Center area.
Shawnee
Downtown Shawnee: Small businesses moving in
City leaders opted for big infrastructure and streetscaping projects in Shawnee’s downtown several years ago with a redone Nieman Road and a facelift for Johnson Drive.
Most recently, the city council adjusted its land use categories to encourage “artisanal manufacturing” and discourage automobile-oriented business in its downtown and eastern gateway districts.
Since the street improvements, the city has seen apartments and a run of mostly small businesses move in, and that trend appears likely to continue in 2023.
Restaurants and breweries have been especially attracted to the area.
The Servaes Brewing Company at 10921 Johnson Drive has plans for a big expansion of its 2,700-square-foot taproom after buying two neighboring properties on the block.
Just across the street and up the block, the former Hartman Hardware store is also being remodeled to become the future Friction Brewing Company.
Friction took over the space at 11018 Johnson Drive in 2021 with plans for a 2022 opening. However, work has gone more slowly than expected because of post-pandemic supply and construction issues, according to an explanatory post on Friction’s Facebook page. Owners posted in October that progress has picked up since summer.
Nieman Road corridor: More changes afoot
The newly redone Nieman Road is also beginning to see some development.
At its corner with Johnson Drive, the former Shawnee State Bank building is being outfitted as a restaurant, with a “coming soon” sign announcing the District Pour House+ Kitchen.
A few feet south, a Mother Clucker! Restaurant serving spicy Nashville-style chicken will open at 5930 Nieman Road, on the site of the longtime Big Bam’s Burgers. That project has also run into delays during the pandemic-related supply chain slowdown.
Nearby, developer Kevin Tubbesing has plans to turn the vacant Shawnee Auto repair shop at 5801 Nieman Road into an occupied business, likely a restaurant or another retail use. He’s branded that project Stag’s Garage.
The shop will need substantial environmental cleanup, plumbing and ductwork before it can be occupied.
With its proximity to downtown and other renovations like the Aztec Theater and McLain’s Market, Neiman Road will remain a place to watch for other redevelopment in the coming year.
Lenexa
Lenexa City Center: Progress on AdventHealth campus
Lenexa has several notable developments on tap in 2023.
The marquee project continues to be the AdventHealth Life Campus, which is already in progress at 86th Street and Renner Boulevard adjacent to the City Center development.
Earth moving at that prominent corner ushers in the first phase of the project, which is expected to take 20 years and ultimately have eleven buildings.
The first phase includes the five-story, 230,000-square-foot hospital and a companion three-story medical office building of 55,000 square feet.
Restaurant Row: Tenants being signed
At another gateway corner to City Center, a line of five buildings dubbed “Restaurant Row” are in the works for the southwest corner of Renner Boulevard and West 87th Street.
Plans have been revised and tenants are being signed for the buildings that will eventually go in that area.
The first phase on the triangular patch of land includes a future restaurant near the traffic circle at Renner and City Center Drive. Another building planned for a later phase will become a two-story office building and adjacent parking structure.
Former Kiewit HQ: Apartment/office plan
Meanwhile, plans are in the works for the former Kiewit Corp. office building at 95th Street and Renner Boulevard.
That five-story building has sat vacant since 2020, when Kiewit moved up Renner to the former Perceptive Software office building.
Representatives of Block Real Estate Services and NSPJ Architects have submitted plans for the building to become a mixed-use apartment and office building, with apartments on the upper floors, a partial first floor of office use and the addition of a larger second building of apartments immediately to the west of the existing building.
The apartment portion would include efficiencies and one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom units, plus parking, and amenities.
All of that is still in the planning stages.
Canyon Creek West: Big project off K-10
Further west, along Kansas Highway 10 and the Canyon Creek Boulevard interchange, developers are working on a concept to convert a 112-acre tract into a mixed-use campus that would include a wide variety of uses.
The Canyon Creek West applicant Schlagel Associates submitted a proposal that would put two-family residential, multi-family residential, commercial, office and business park uses on the property, which is owned by Speedway II, LLC.
That plan is still in its formative stages and does not outline where specific buildings would go.
It also calls for three new segments of road to be built, expanding 101st Street, Clare Road and 99th Street.
Roxie Hammill is a freelance journalist who reports frequently for the Post and other Kansas City area publications. You can reach her at roxieham@gmail.com.
