Westwood is settling for a housing proposal for the site of an old school near Joe D. Dennis Park, signaling the city’s continued interest to guide redevelopment in a part of the small bedroom community that, for years, has been steeped in controversy.
The old Westwood View Elementary School property, as well as the park and city-owned green space nearby, have been a battleground for protests, legal threats and, ultimately, a failed public vote last spring on the proposed sale of Joe D. Dennis Park that would have paved the way for an office-retail project there.
The city still holds a purchase agreement with the Shawnee Mission School District on the school site and originally intended to use the money from the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park to build a bigger city park where the school building currently sits.
Mission Woods-based Karbank Real Estate Company, the developer behind the office-retail plan, also had committed to supplying the necessary cash for the purchase of the old school, but after voters rejected the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park, Westwood lacked the funds to buy the school outright.
With time running out on the city’s purchase agreement, the Westwood City Council on Thursday asked staff to draft a separate agreement — to be considered at a later date — to potentially hand its purchasing rights of the school site to Hunt Midwest. The Kansas City-based developer proposes to bring a mix of single-family and multi-family housing as well as a nearly half-acre private pocket park.
As part of the deal, Hunt Midwest would also pay the city $285,000 for an assignment fee. Westwood plans to use that cash to pay off the remaining debt of the former Westwood Christian Church site (the green space next to Joe D. Dennis Park).
A representative of Hunt Midwest said the developer is not planning to buy the old church site and that the city is free to use the cash from the assignment fee however it wants.
How did we get here?
Karbank had originally planned to build an office-retail development on Joe D. Dennis Park and the neighboring former church site. In return, Karbank would have given the city the $2.8 million necessary to buy the old school building and develop a 3.86-acre park just to the west.
But residents rallied in opposition to the project, some swapping legal threats with the city that eventually wound up in court. Ultimately, Westwood conceded to residents’ demands to place the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park before voters.
In April, 52.8% of Westwood voters rejected the park sale, effectively nixing Karbank’s plan for the entire site, including the proposal to remake Westwood View into a park.
In late May, the city council unanimously approved extending its purchase agreement with Shawnee Mission. At the time, the city council saw the move as the last chance for the city to have a say in the future of the original Westwood View school property.
The city in June put out a call for developers to come forward with their best ideas for the old school building site.
The proposal calls for homes, twin and triplexes
Hunt Midwest’s proposal is approximately $34.4 million for an entirely residential development, with a nearly half-acre pocket park as an anchor. The proposal currently includes no requests for incentives.
Senior Vice President Brenner Holland told the city council on Thursday that the breakdown of residences is as follows:
- 5 single-family homes
- 6 twin-plexes
- 2 triplexes
- 6 larger twin-plexes
The single-family residences are estimated to cost $1 to $1.5 million once completed. The multi-family residences, dubbed villas, are estimated to cost between $800,000 to $1.2 million.
Holland said the plan also calls for a homeowners association to provide maintenance to the development, including “the green,” or pocket park in the center of the villas.
Holland said the goal is to create something similar to Prairie Village’s Meadowbrook villas or Northgate Village, a development Hunt Midwest built in North Kansas City, Missouri.
Several governing body members said during the meeting that the city council is not currently considering Hunt Midwest’s proposal, but instead, used the proposal as a way to determine whether it wanted to potentially partner with this specific developer.
The city received five other proposals
After asking developers to share their “best” ideas for the future of the former Westwood View property in June, the city received six total proposals.
A steering committee that included city staff, planning commissioners, residents and councilmembers Jeff Harris and Holly Wimer interviewed the developers behind the plans and considered the five proposals.
Wimer said Hunt Midwest’s proposal seemed to be the best fit.
Harris said all of the proposals were residential developments, and the committee had the following six criteria to consider all the proposals against:
- Alignment with the stated vision in the request for proposals
- The developer’s “track record” with building such a project
- How the project responded to the surrounding landscape, particularly the Joe D. Dennis Park
- The development’s public benefit and the developer’s financial ability to buy the property and bring their proposal to fruition
- “Transparent team structure and experience”
- Any other potential factors
No developers proposed a park, trail, green space, community spaces, nor retail or restaurant spaces on the former school property proper.
Next steps:
- City staff is expected to draft an agreement to assign its purchase rights to Hunt Midwest and return with that agreement to the city council.
- The city council meetings at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at city hall, 4700 Rainbow Blvd.
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