Prominent area of Aspiria campus once slated for apartments will now be a hotel

Marriot's AC Hotels brand is planning a four-story, 125-room hotel on Overland Park's Aspiria campus. Image via Overland Park planning documents.

A planned hotel and a separate apartment development within the wider Aspiria campus in Overland Park will swap places.

Earlier this week, the Overland Park Planning Commission recommended the necessary revised preliminary development plan for approval, 10-0. Commissioner Rob Krewson was absent from the meeting.

The new site plan doesn’t necessarily change much about the greater Aspiria mixed-use project on the site of the former Sprint headquarters, but it does move things around in the development.

In particular, the proposed changes approved this week are mostly within the “A” section of the campus, located just off Nall Avenue between 115th and 117th streets.

Hotel, apartments change places in Aspiria

The revised site plan doesn’t remove any of the previously discussed elements from the full Aspiria campus proposals.
Instead, it swaps two pieces of the project, placing the 400 or so planned apartment units in a different location further to the west in the overall Aspiria site and bringing a 100,000-square-foot, four-story hotel to the “A” area.
That hotel — which renderings suggest will be operated by Marriot’s AC Hotels — is expected to have 125 rooms, according to city planning documents.
The revision also adds about 128,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space spread across four additional buildings to the “A” area.

Four proposed retail and restaurant spaces in Aspiria. Image via Overland Park planning documents.

Looking back on Aspiria

The Aspiria campus was once envisioned for office development as part of the former Sprint World Headquarters.
In 2020, Wichita-based developer Occidental Management had the 200-acre campus rezoned for mixed-use development, effectively paving the way for a variety of uses.
That, so far, has included offices, entertainment venues and other types of operations.
After T-Mobile merged with Sprint in 2020, the company took over the western portion of the campus.
Reaching the full vision of Aspiria’s developers — which has evolved over time — is likely to take years, if not decades.

Next steps:

The revised preliminary development plan for Aspiria goes to the Overland Park City Council for consideration next.
It is currently scheduled for the Aug. 5 meeting.

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