After plans to transform a former elementary school into a 3.5-acre park fell through, Westwood now faces “budget constraints” to rebuild the city’s premier park — but plans to land outside funds may be forming.
Nearly two years ago, city officials revealed concepts to turn the old Westwood View Elementary at 2511 W. 51st Street into a 3.5-acre park.
That idea rested on the back of a 2023 Karbank Real Estate Services proposal to turn the city’s largest park, Joe D. Dennis Park near the school at the southwest corner of 50th Street and Rainbow Boulevard, into an office-retail development.
The sale of the park became the subject of a public vote, which Westwood voters ultimately rejected in April 2025 — effectively killing the new 3.5-acre park that came with the Karbank proposal.
It left Westwood without a plan for improvements to Joe D. Dennis Park, which features a small, outdated playground, a tunnel, tennis courts and a fountain.
Now, Westwood is officially in the final running — and crossing its fingers — to get a $3 million grant from Variety KC through the Ten Parks Project funded by the Peter and Veronica Mallouk Family Foundation.
City Administrator Katherine Carttar told the Post that the city “is unable to make significant upgrades to Joe D. Dennis Park with the current budget constraints.”
“Through the Ten Parks Project, Variety KC and the Peter and Veronica Mallouk Family Foundation are offering cities an unprecedented opportunity to create truly inclusive playgrounds,” Carttar said.
At the same time, the original Westwood View Elementary site is now on track to become a Hunt Midwest housing development comprised of luxury single-family homes, twin villas and triplexes.
Ten Parks Project is a $30M initiative
Variety KC works to provide children with cognitive and/or physical disabilities medical equipment and other resources, and is well known for building all-abilities playgrounds.
For the Ten Parks Project, Variety KC is partnering with Peter and Veronica Mallouk, who envisioned funding 10 fully accessible parks in the metro area, according to Variety KC’s website. (Peter Mallouk is president and CEO of Overland Park-based wealth management firm Creative Partners and also majority owner of Sporting KC.)
The goal of the Ten Parks Project initiative is to ensure each “child in the metro area can be within 10 miles of an inclusive park,” according to city of Westwood documents.
Variety KC Chief Executive Officer Marc Harrell told the Post in a June 30 email that the demand for inclusive playgrounds in the Kansas City metro is evidenced by the 17 letters of interest the nonprofit received in its first round of applications for the project.
“The response we’ve seen from cities across the metro tells us something important: inclusive play isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s something communities are actively asking for,” Harrell said. “We’re proud to be able to expand access to as many of these parks as we can through this partnership.”
The Mallouk Family Foundation’s $30 million contribution to the Ten Parks Project kicked off with the Roy Blunt Luminary Park in Kansas City, Missouri.
Westwood submitted a letter of interest
Westwood, like 16 other cities, submitted a letter of interest to Variety KC last month.
Carttar told the city council on June 11 that the letter of interest emphasized how many communities are within 1.5 miles of Joe D. Dennis Park, including approximately 90,000 residents.
Carttar said the city may be on the hook for matching up to 20% of the new playground’s cost as part of the grant, but specific dollar amounts are unknown at this time.
Additionally, Carttar said Hunt Midwest, developing the new homes just to the west on the old school site, knows about the city’s interest in the grant “and are fully supportive.”
Mayor David Waters, addressing Councilmember Jeff Harris’ comment about it being unusual for the city council to sign off on a grant application with a formal vote, said the city wants to show how “serious” it is about the potential grant.
There are grants for 9 parks in this current round
Harrell told the Post on June 30 that the current grant cycle, which began with letters of interest from cities on June 1, is for nine parks.
Last week, Harrell said Variety KC began notifying cities that are moving forward to submit full applications. It is unclear if this includes Westwood.
The full application window opened on July 1, and Variety KC plans to evaluate those applications in the coming weeks and make final selections, Harrell said.
Awardees will be notified on Oct. 30, according to Variety KC’s website.
A second round kicks off on Nov. 1 with letters of interest. Full applications for the second round open Jan. 8, 2027, and awardees will be notified by April 30, 2027.
Joe D. Dennis Park’s recent spotlight
In the past three years, Joe D. Dennis Park and its future have been the main debate in Westwood.
In 2023, Mission Hills-based Karbank proposed a plan to turn the park and a neighboring former church property into an office-retail development. As part of that plan, Karbank also proposed repurposing the old Westwood View Elementary property to the west into a bigger 3.5-acre park.
But that plan sparked pushback from residents, some of whom ended up suing the city, successfully arguing that Westwood must take the sale of Joe D. Dennis Park to a public vote before moving forward.
After residents won that lawsuit, Westwood voters then rejected the sale of the park in a public vote in April 2025, effectively killing the Karbank project.
That also left the city without funding to buy the old school property to turn it into a park, and without the additional commercial properties on the city’s tax roll.
The city council then turned its attention to the neighboring Westwood View school property, ultimately partnering with Hunt Midwest on the residential development.
Keep reading parks and pool news: Lenexa’s rebuilt Ad Astra pool will open on July 4 after $10M renovation
