The Lenexa City Council has approved plans for apartments to be built on the last remaining major piece of land in the Sonoma Plaza complex.
On Tuesday, the council unanimously voted to approve preliminary plans for the third phase of apartments located at 88th Street and Maurer Road. This phase of the years-long Sonoma Plaza project will add 218 apartment units to the area.
It will be located on a currently undeveloped tract of land located near The Red Door Grill restaurant and Jersey Mike’s, south of 87th Street Parkway.
“This is the last major piece in this development,” Stephanie Sullivan, Lenexa community development planning manager, said during Tuesday’s meeting.
The project has four levels of apartments
- The structure will be five stories tall, with one level of parking and four levels of apartments.
- The entire building totals 248,060 square feet, with 85,000 square feet for parking.
- There will be seven studio units, 161 one-bedroom units and 50 two-bedroom units.
- Zoned for Planned Unit Development, the site was originally slated to be a 44,000-square-foot senior living facility.
The apartments complete the plaza
Developed by Oddo Development, Sonoma Plaza’s land was previously considered the “last major vacant swath of land inside I-435 in Johnson County.”
Since first being developed, Sonoma Plaza has grown rapidly, scoring tenants ranging from Chick-Fil-A to Starbucks and Chase Bank.
The plaza already has other apartment buildings, including The Peak at Sonoma and Sonoma Hill, both of which Rick Oddo, CEO of Oddo Development, said are fully leased.
“We never imagined that we would get this much market demand in the area and so, we’re very excited,” said Patrick Reuter, vice president of Klover Architects. “It continues to grow and be a great asset to the community.”
When asked by the council about how neighboring businesses felt about the apartments, Reuter said they’re happy to have more people in the area.
“When we spoke to all the retailers restaurants in the area, they’re all very excited to have this piece, this part of walkable community much closer to other areas,” he said.
Council had questions about parking
When the council opened the floor to questions, most centered around worries that parking for the apartment could spread to other businesses.
The apartment meets the city’s requirement to have at least 1.5 stalls per one-bedroom unit and 1.75 stalls per two-bedroom unit, Reuter said.
Judging by its other apartment complexes in the plaza, Oddo said he doesn’t forecast any problems with the amount of parking the apartment will offer.
“We believe that everything will be adequately parked and that there will be extra stalls during the day for the restaurant and commercial uses,” Reuter said.
Council wants to see Sonoma Plaza complete
In her closing comments before the vote, Mayor Julie Sayers praised the Sonoma Plaza project and its effect on Lenexa.
“This is a wonderful product and the people who live in the existing Sonoma developments are very happy,” she said. “It’s a very harmonious community that you’ve built there. So thank you for that. I’m excited to see the last piece come into play.”
More Sonoma Plaza news: Meddys restaurant made a splash in Prairie Village. Now it’s opening in Lenexa.
