The next phases of the highly contested East Village development in Leawood received a green light from the city’s planning commission Tuesday night.
At its monthly meeting, the commission approved final plans for the project’s later phases — which will bring a new 1.76-acre park and amphitheater to the southeast corner of 133rd Street and Pawnee Lane.
These new phases of the much-discussed project just west of State Line Road will also bring hundreds of apartment units, in addition to retail shops and restaurants, to the currently undeveloped site.
Park and amphitheater are part of third and fourth phases
- Developers altered the plan slightly to reduce the size of the park — dubbed “Chadwick Park” — in order to add room for amphitheater seating and emergency vehicle access.
- The approved plans also include an increase of about 4,300 square feet in retail, restaurant and office space, as well as relocating the community pool to the roof of an apartment building’s parking garage in order to leave room for more green space.
- These phases also include 36 brownstone homes, as well as 327 apartment units across four separate buildings.
- During these phases, developers also aim to build 9,000 square feet of office space and more than 14,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
- Developers will also construct a dog park and a community garden.
Construction set to kick off later this year
- Early utility and street work for the project’s first phases will begin this fall.
- Final plans for the overall development by Lenexa-based Oddo Development got the Leawood City Council’s stamp of approval in March — following three years of back and forth between the city, developers and concerned neighboring residents.
- The first phase of construction will include 26 single-family homes and 12 twin villas, or duplexes, as well as traffic entrances off Pawnee Lane and High Drive.
East Village used to be called Cameron’s Court
- The 116-acre project as a whole entails a mix of residential, retail and office space, including apartments, single-family homes and duplexes.
- The project, dating back more than three years when it was also previously known as Cameron’s Court, has faced opposition from neighboring residents who expressed concerns about increased traffic and even the look of the buildings.
- The group ultimately agreed upon a list of conditions, which included the developer paying $100,000 toward traffic calming measures.
- The entire development will take roughly 10 years to build, but developers estimate residents will be able to start purchasing lots there in 2024 or 2025.
Go deeper: Leawood narrowly approves East Village project, clearing way for work to start
