Tupelo Honey is the first publicly identified tenant in Lenexa’s much-anticipated Restaurant Row development.
Announced Tuesday during the Lenexa City Council meeting, the Southern food eatery based in North Carolina will be part of the first phase of Restaurant Row at 87th Street Parkway and Renner Boulevard.
In the first leg, two restaurants totaling 17,725 square-feet are planned. Eventually, the block of restaurants is expected to be a five-building complex complete with a parking structure.
Tenants for the buildings have not been revealed yet, though developer Keith Copaken, with Copaken Brooks, hinted that an unnamed local Mexican restaurant would also be on site.
Tupelo Honey serves ‘scratch made’ Southern food
- Tupelo Honey has more than two dozen locations across the U.S., but this will be its first restaurant in the Kansas City area.
- The restaurant’s website forecasts a 2024 opening date in Lenexa, though an exact timeline hasn’t been set.
- They serve brunch, lunch and dinner, plus a happy hour on weekdays, and menus at other locations feature southern classics , including biscuits, fried chicken, chicken and waffles and pecan pie and banana pudding for dessert.
Lenexa set incentives for Restaurant Row Tuesday
- An incentive package approved by the city council Tuesday includes a 20-year, 50% tax increment financing district through the City Center development project, $3.5 million in industrial revenue bonds and a 22-year, 2% Community Improvement District tax.
- Both types of incentive districts are used to pay developers back for expenses incurred while building out or redeveloping an area by funneling some tax dollars toward the project for a set window of time.
- The council approved all of the elements associated with the TIF unanimously.
- “This is a great use of the incentives that we have at our disposal to allocate,” Thomas Nolte, councilmember from Ward 2, said. “This to me was an important site. This is the focal point, I think and sort of the main entry element for City Center.”
Restaurant Row’s 2% CID sales tax is higher than normal
- Lenexa has multiple CIDs, particularly in and around City Center, all with 1% sales taxes attached.
- The newly authorized CID for Restaurant Row sets a 2% sales tax rate for all purchases within the district’s confines.
- That will bring the sales tax at all Restaurant Row establishments and any potential retail shops on the site to 11.35%.
- Copaken told the council anything less than the 2% sales tax would tank Restaurant Row since it didn’t receive a 100% TIF.
One councilmember opposed the sales tax boost
- Ward 1 Councilmember Courtney Eiterich was the lone vote against the CID sales tax, saying she was worried about setting a new precedent with the 2% option.
- Eiterich also expressed some doubt with the developer’s assertion that the project wouldn’t be possible with a 1% sales tax.
- Other councilmembers also raised concerns about a 2% sales tax becoming the new norm, but ultimately voted to support it.
More on Restaurant Row: Lenexa’s Restaurant Row first phase moves ahead
