Engineering firm looks to expand Lenexa City Center footprint

Kiewit Engineering, based in Nebraska, is looking to expand its Lenexa City Center footprint with a fourth office building on its campus. Image courtesy of Lenexa planning documents.

Kiewit Engineering is hoping to grow its Lenexa City Center campus with a new 177,550-square-foot office building.

On Monday, the Lenexa Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the final plan for a brand new office building for Kiewit near 89th Street and Renner Boulevard.

Kiewit, based in Omaha, Neb., has long had a presence in Lenexa after purchasing a local engineering firm more than 20 years ago.

This will be Kiewit’s fourth City Center building

This leg of the development is on a vacant parcel in the middle of the existing Kiewit campus at the corner of 89th and Hampton Street, one block west of Renner, according to city planning documents.
There are roughly 1,400 Kiewit employees working at City Center.
Long-term projections anticipate about 2,500 employees eventually working there, Alan Lincoln, the engineering firm’s real estate manager, told the commission.

Other upgrades are planned for the Kiewit campus

The project is expected to bring with it expansions to the existing parking structure on the south side of the campus, including a proposed solar array mounted on the upper level.
Designs also show plans for a common outdoor events plaza for employees in all four buildings to use.
All of these elements seek to connect a building on the Kiewit campus constructed in 2020 with the older buildings the firm acquired that previously served as the headquarters for Perceptive Software, the project architect Jake Baker, with HOK, said.

Kiewit already has three buildings in Lenexa City Center around off of Renner Boulevard. It intends to build a new 177,550-square-foot building on an undeveloped parcel at the middle of its campus. An aerial view of the Kiewit campus in Lenexa City Center. — Kiewit already has three buildings in Lenexa City Center off Renner Boulevard. It intends to build a new 177,550-square-foot building on an undeveloped parcel at the middle of its campus. Image courtesy of Lenexa planning documents.

The project aligns with the city’s comprehensive plan

Separately, the planning commission also voted 7-0 indicating that the new building plans are in alignment with Lenexa’s active comprehensive plan, which envisions urban mixed-uses in the City Center zone.
That step was required as the new building is considered redevelopment within the existing tax increment district set up in City Center.
It has been anticipated that Kiewit would construct a fourth building at its City Center campus, ever since the firm started making plans to move there from its former Lenexa offices off 95th Street in 2018.

Next steps:

This final plan goes to the Lenexa City Council during its regularly scheduled April 18 meeting.
During that meeting, the city council is expected to hold a public hearing on the matter, as well.
The public hearing is required because of the involvement with the incentives district across City Center.

More Lenexa City Center news: Lenexa City Center plan for 2 hotels, retail and restaurant takes shape