After years of little activity at the site, the company behind the Brookridge mixed-use redevelopment effort in Overland Park says vertical construction on the first apartment building could start soon.
But first, Curtin Property Company needs yet another extension on some rapidly approaching deadlines and wants to pause the clock on certain public financing incentives that have already begun.
That’s what representatives for the developer told the Overland Park City Council Finance, Administration, and Economic Development Committee last week, ahead of a vote to recommend doing just that, albeit with some new terms from the city and a bit of reluctance from councilmembers.
Under the amended agreements, Curtin would get more time to complete some of the earliest project milestones and can pause the collection of special sales tax revenue in two incentive districts.
At the same time, the city is imposing stricter timelines tied to the promised economic development revenue bonds for the project, setting up nearly annual deadlines through 2038, by which point the project would be expected to be nearing completion.
Even as the committee granted the extension, Councilmember Holly Grummert voiced dissatisfaction with the lack of progress on what she likened to a “dirt pile” and skepticism that the new agreements will yield any major progress.
Still, Grummert and other councilmembers said they felt they had no option but to grant Curtin’s ask for more time since the project would almost certainly fail — and could result in a legal dispute — if the developer defaults on the terms of the incentive packages.
How they voted:
Here’s how members of the public safety committee voted:
• Chris Newlin, who chairs the committee: Yes
• Andrew Payne: Yes
• Holly Grummert: Yes
• Drew Mitrisin: Yes
• Amy Scrivner: Absent
• Amy Antrim: Yes
Looking back on Brookridge
The $2 billion redevelopment at the roughly 200-acre Brookridge Golf Club near Antioch Road and Interstate 435 was controversial from the start when proposals first emerged as early as 2014, with neighbors pushing back against the more urban development pattern at a site that’s operated as a golf course for decades.
Eventually, the Overland Park City Council approved a redevelopment plan, which featured a mix of apartments, office and retail space.
Later, the city council also narrowly granted a public financing package of more than $200 million through tax increment financing districts, special sales tax districts called Community Improvement Districts and sales tax exemptions delivered through bonds.
Aside from the recent demolition of a couple of lingering single-family homes on the perimeter and state-backed traffic improvements around 103rd Street and Antioch, actual construction activity on the project has been slow to materialize since a 2023 groundbreaking that featured Gov. Laura Kelly.
In fact, shortly after that, Curtin requested to move back the deadline on some incentive timelines, followed by extensions on construction timelines the following year.
That slowness has drawn the ire of many, including neighbors who once opposed the project altogether. Some have compared it to Mission Gateway, the stalled redevelopment project along Roe Avenue between Shawnee Mission Parkway and Johnson Drive in downtown Mission.
But the developer and its representatives have insisted that the delays at Brookridge are out of their control, as they’ve struggled to garner private financing amid uncertainty in the real estate market, particularly corporate office space.
What’s in the amended incentive asks for Brookridge?
The dollar amount for the roughly $200 million in incentives Curtin has been promised for Brookridge isn’t changing, but the timelines attached to multiple parts of those agreements are.
Specifically, the developer is asking for more time, looking to push back some upcoming deadlines by at least a year.
For instance, the developer is supposed to have started minimum site improvements by the end of July. While some infrastructure work and preconstruction activity has occurred, Curtin hasn’t started building the first mixed-use apartment and retail building, nor is the company expected to by next month.
Under the amended agreement, the commencement deadline will be pushed to July 31, 2027, with completion required by Oct. 31, 2029. Curtin has also added EPC Real Estate Group as a partner to that portion of the project.
As a term of those changes, the city is attaching more regular deadlines for subsequent parts of the project, tied to the issuance of about $445 million in economic development revenue bonds and attached sales tax exemptions on construction materials.
The final deadline would be in 2038.
Overland Park is also seeking to prohibit the developer from including a drive-thru of any kind in the entire project area.
Additionally, Curtin also wants to pause the collection of one of its special incentive sales tax districts that’s set to start collection on July 1, and resume it in October 2029. That’s because there’s no meaningful sales tax revenue to be collected currently in the Brookridge redevelopment area.
However, the state requires public notification of changes to these kinds of sales tax districts, so collection in the district will begin on July 1 and continue through Oct. 1. Then, it will resume in 2029.
The start day passed more than a year ago in another special incentive sales tax district in the Brookridge redevelopment area, so Curtin is asking to pause that, as well. Collection would continue through Oct. 1, then resume in 2032.
Called CIDs, these districts impose a 1.5% special sales tax whose revenues are paid to a third party for a set amount of time in a specific area to reimburse eligible development costs as a type of economic development incentive.
The two Brookridge CIDs in question are expected to deliver no more than a combined $47 million in reimbursement.
As of early last week, Curtin hadn’t submitted the petitions that formally request changes to its Brookridge CIDs. Conversations and negotiations attached to these extensions and changes began in November 2025.
First building is getting close, developer says
Bob Johnson, an attorney for Polsinelli representing Curtin, told the finance committee last week that the first building at the Brookridge site could start going up soon.
He added that Curtin and its partner EPC have secured just about 90% of the necessary private financing.
“Truly we are quite, quite close on that last piece of capital,” he said. “I can’t promise you exactly what day that is. It’s probably not tomorrow, but it’s soon.”
The first building, called Brookridge 510N in project documents, is a mixed-use building with ground-floor retail and commercial space and more than 300 apartment units stacked in the upper floors.
Johnson acknowledged some of the frustrations the public and city officials have voiced about the slowness of the Brookridge redevelopment, pointing to “headwinds” that contributed to that, like difficulty raising private financing and cost increases in the construction industry.
“I won’t belabor it anymore, other than to say publicly this team believes very strongly that going vertical at Brookridge is right around the corner, after fighting through highs and lows,” he said.
Councilmembers unimpressed with Brookridge’s lack of progress
Grummert was the most vocal of the finance committee members last week, expressing dissatisfaction with how the project so far has not materialized after more than a decade of planning for it.
She recounted a recent experience with a distraught member of the public who tearfully begged for a resolution at a city council meeting.
“Clearly I want this to go forward, and I’m not trying to delay it, but we have gone into this partnership together to create a project that continues to not be created,” Grummert said. “It has been disappointing to see it not move forward … We always hope for more from this project.”
But ultimately, she and the rest of the committee decided to advance a series of resolutions that moves the deadlines, adjusts some of the requirements for the developer and sets up for already promised bonds to be issued under a new timeline.
Grummert and others worried, in part, that letting the deadlines pass and the incentives expire would likely doom the project.
For Councilmember Chris Newlin, who chairs the committee, the new “teeth” added to the incentive package with more regular deadlines gives him hope.
“We do want this project to go forth, we want to see it done,” he said, pressing Curtin to follow through with the Brookridge redevelopment. “I think we have got to take this last chance here on getting [that mixed-use building] done, getting that corner developed.”
Next steps:
The amended redevelopment agreement and updated incentive packages with new deadlines and terms go to the full Overland Park City Council for consideration next.
Those are tentatively scheduled for the July 6 meeting.
Additionally, a rezoning application tied to the project that adjusts the phasing for certain elements and makes some other modifications is currently working its way through the planning process.
The Overland Park Planning Commission is scheduled to hear that application during its August meeting, according to the city’s online permitting and licensing portal, though that is subject to change.
Later, the city council will need to vote to issue bonds periodically for Brookridge along the new deadlines imposed by the amended agreements.
Looking back: After years of inactivity, Overland Park’s $2B Brookridge project is back — with a twist
