Lenexa has advanced a $200 million, 75-acre mixed-use development near Kansas Highway 7 and Prairie Star Parkway.
On Monday, the Lenexa Planning Commission unanimously approved the rezoning, concept plan and preliminary plan for Solera, a project featuring retail space, apartments, townhomes and duplexes.
The undeveloped site for the project in western Lenexa was previously zoned in 2007 for the Falls at Prairie Star, an earlier plan that included several big box stores but never came to fruition, Dave Dalecky, planner for the City of Lenexa, said during the meeting.
Stag Commercial is the developer in partnership with Intrepid Real Estate. Schlagel and Associates are the civil engineers, and Klover Architects Inc. are the architects.
“This is one of the nicer projects I’ve seen come through. I hope you’ll see that as well,” developer Kevin Tubbesing of Stag Commercial said to the planning commission.
The project includes retail and housing
The development includes about 116,000 square feet of retail in four buildings along the site’s northern border, including a 60,000-square-foot grocery store, according to city documents. Tenants have yet to be finalized.
The development will also include a mix of housing:
- 324 apartments over eight three-story buildings, including 180 one-bedrooms, 96 two-bedrooms and 48 three-bedrooms that range from about 800 to 1,400 square feet.
- 88 townhomes in 24 buildings. Each unit would have a two-stall garage and parking spaces for two vehicles in each driveway.
- 84 units in 42 two-story duplexes.
No phasing plan for the project was presented at the meeting.
In addition to retail and housing, the project includes adding a new section of Woodsonia Drive from Prairie Star Parkway to a new east-west arterial street, which will intersect with Monticello Terrace, according to city documents.
Portions of the site are proposed to be rezoned from planned regional commercial and agricultural to high-density residential and intermediate-density residential.
The project will be built near other future housing
The project will be located near The Vantage at Lenexa site, an almost 21-acre proposed development that will include about 300 apartments. A preliminary plan and rezoning request for that property is scheduled for discussion by the Lenexa City Council in July.
It will also be located within several miles of the proposed Reserve at Copper Creek development, which includes 500 apartments across 15 buildings. The city council approved that project in May 2024, with construction expected to be complete in 2026.
The planning commission had limited comments
Despite a reminder from Chris Poss, chairperson for the Lenexa Planning Commission, that the agenda item was the public’s sole chance to speak to the city about the project, no one from the public came forward.
Most of the comments from the planning commission were clarifying questions about the project’s proposed encroachment into the 100-foot setback from K-7 Highway.
In addition, Commissioner Curt Katterhenry told Tubbesing that he’s hoping for more aesthetic differences between the buildings than what was shown on the renderings in city documents.
“As this moves forward, I would love to see some variations on some of the duplexes,” he said.
Before taking the planning commission’s vote, Poss said it was consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan and that he was in support of it.
What’s next?
The city council will discuss the project at its meeting on June 17 at 7 p.m.
More Lenexa development news: Developer planning new multi-tenant retail building in Old Town Lenexa
