Olathe plans to tear down a couple of city buildings at the corner of Spruce Street and Kansas 7 Highway soon.
Those buildings, the majority of which make up the city’s former headquarters for the parks and recreation division, will make way for planned future improvements along Spruce.
Olathe moved parks and rec in 2019
- About five years ago, Olathe moved the parks and recreation division, Cody Kennedy, Olathe’s chief communications officer, said.
- Now, it operates out of the city’s Robinson Campus, which is also home to Public Works and the city’s customer service department.
- Since then, the former parks headquarters buildings haven’t been utilized.
Olathe to demolish multiple buildings
- Olathe plans to tear down the collection of buildings located at 404 N. K-7 Hwy., including the brick building that sits right off the highway.
- The city also wants to remove a single-family home structure at 1040 W. Spruce St., which it acquired in 2019.
- Plus, the demolition will include about an acre of pavement removal, as well as utility elimination and the removal of about 1,000 feet of fences.
- The Olathe City Council this month unanimously signed off on a contract with Midland Wrecking to do the demolition work, estimated to cost nearly $150,000.
Olathe to improve Spruce St. soon
Kennedy said the demolition will allow the city “to align resources to complete the preliminary engineering process” for the Spruce project.
In 2025, Olathe has earmarked $1.5 million for design and engineering work for Spruce improvments.
The focus of the work on Spruce, per the city’s capital improvement project list, is to further lower Spruce underneath the BNSF railroad crossing. The low bridge clearance has resulted in a handful of taller trucks and vehicles getting crunched trying to travel below it.
In addition to improving Spruce to allow for better “truck clearance,” according to the CIP, Olathe also intends to widen the street between K-7 and Kansas Avenue to make it a four-lane road.
Exactly when Olathe will improve Spruce Street is unclear as the city hasn’t identified a construction year in its capital improvement project list approved for 2024, nor has it earmarked any funds for the work.
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