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Aging Quivira Square strip mall in Lenexa to get upgrades

The nearly 50-year-old Quivira Square shopping center at the corner of 79th Street and Quivira Road in Lenexa is on track to get a revamp.

The large retail center is currently home to Element Fitness, a physical therapy studio, an animal clinic, Hillcrest Thrift Shop and donation center, Third Coast Pizza and Iglesia de Dios Ministerial.

It’s in a stretch of Quivira Road — between 79th and 95th streets — identified in 2018 as a potential redevelopment corridor.

The Lenexa Planning Commission last week unanimously approved a final plan for the upgrades. The plan wasn’t individually discussed, but approved alongside a series of other procedural planning items.

Quivira Square’s three buildings will get upgrades

  • There is roughly 54,000 square feet of retail space in the Quivira Square shopping center, which was built in the mid-1970s.
  • The facade of the three buildings will be modernized, painted and re-clad with synthetic wood and stone.
  • The buildings will be more of a neutral gray color with wood accents instead of the orange tone they are now.
  • The plan will not touch Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant, which sits at the northwest corner of the intersection of 79th and Quivira.
  • Nearby shopping centers and the Reserve at 77 apartments will also not be touched.
The Quivira Square retail center at 79th Street and Quivira Road is slated for some exterior upgrades. The three-building shopping center was first built in 1976.
The buildings at Quivira Square retail center at the corner of 79th and Quivira will be re-clad and painted. The parking lot will also be redone. Photo credit Kaylie McLaughlin.

Parking will be a major focus

  • As it stands now, the parking lot makes use of diagonal parking spaces, which will be replaced with perpendicular ones.
  • The entire lot will also be resurfaced.
  • With 216 parking spots planned, there are about 30 fewer parking spaces planned in the new layout than Lenexa city code allows for with the current use of the shops.
  • Lenexa planning staff support the deviation given the general improvements planned for the lot, according to city documents.
  • New sidewalks will also be added to connect more readily to 79th Street.

Next steps:

  • This proposal does not require approval from the Lenexa City Council.
  • Actual work on the project will require a few additional administrative approvals.

More Lenexa news: Lenexa City Center project that includes 2 hotels and restaurant gets initial OK

About the author

Kaylie McLaughlin
Kaylie McLaughlin

? Hi! I’m Kaylie McLaughlin, and I cover Overland Park and Olathe for the Johnson County Post.

I grew up in Shawnee and graduated from Mill Valley in 2017. I attended Kansas State University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2021. While there, I worked for the K-State Collegian, serving as the editor-in-chief. As a student, I interned for the Wichita Eagle, the Shawnee Mission Post and KSNT in Topeka. I also contributed to the KLC Journal and the Kansas Reflector. Before joining the Post in 2023 as a full-time reporter, I worked for the Olathe Reporter.

Have a story idea or a comment about our coverage you’d like to share? Email me at kaylie@johnsoncountypost.com.

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