The city of Westwood wants to reimagine its city hall and other land near its municipal campus at 47th Street and Rainbow Boulevard.
After multiple studies and years of discussion, Westwood officially asked developers to throw their hats into the ring to come up with proposals for the future of the city’s municipal spaces, including city hall and the police department.
The city’s request for qualifications is due on Aug. 23.
After interviews and a subsequent request for more detailed development proposals, city staff is expected to select and recommend a developer to the city council for final approval later this year.
A reimagined city hall is a separate project from the much-discussed office and park development a few blocks south at 50th Street and Rainbow Boulevard.
That project garnered significant pushback from some residents, including a protest petition that was thrown out by the city earlier this year.
The new development will replace Joe D. Dennis Park, which is going to be demolished to make way for several office buildings with a new, bigger public park nearby on the site of the old Westwood View Elementary.
The city is set to begin taking public feedback about the park portion of that project next month, according to the city’s website.
Westwood has wanted to update city hall for years
- The city conducted future land use studies in 2015 and 2021 and also adopted a 2017 comprehensive plan and completed an assessment of municipal facilities in 2022.
- The municipal facilities assessment found that repairs at city hall would cost a minimum of $4 million to $5 million.
- In late 2022, Mayor David Waters laid out four different scenarios for the future of city hall — as well as the site that Karbank is redeveloping.
- One of those four scenarios contemplated a new city hall at its current location, 4700 Rainbow Blvd., as a mixed-use development.
- “Over the past ten years, the City has worked through an iterative public planning and study process to get to where we are today in issuing this RFQ,” the city’s July 24 Westwood Buzz newsletter reads.
City seeks new development at 4700 Rainbow
- Through this request for qualifications, the city of Westwood is looking for “a prime developer” for a new development at 4700 Rainbow Blvd.
- This can be a commercial, residential or mixed-use development, as long as it includes city hall and the police department, the city says.
- The Westwood City Council “will give a strong preference to [d]evelopers” who can either achieve a redevelopment without public incentives or who can allocate any public incentives to the city for public uses, such as a new city hall.
There are 3-5 acres available
- There are about three acres at the southwest corner of Rainbow Boulevard and 47th Street available for the potential city hall redevelopment project.
- These three acres are made up of both city facilities and a half-acre vacant parcel owned by the Westwood Foundation.
- Another 1.25-acre plot of land nearby owned by the University of Kansas Hospital Authority, may be available for a future phase.
Read the full request for qualifications below.
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Open in new tab Next steps:
- A review committee — which includes the mayor and representatives from the city council and city planning commission — will lead the selection process for a developer, according to the city’s newsletter.
- The city will review requests for qualifications by Sept. 6 before interviewing developers that same month.
- As a second step in this process, a select few respondents from the request for qualifications will be invited to submit responses to a request for proposals.
- City staff anticipates a recommendation for a developer to go before the governing body by mid-November, according to city documents.
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