Oak Park Mall, the only remaining traditional enclosed shopping mall in Johnson County, could soon see new life, with its owner proposing new apartments, dining, retail and other additions at the property.
It’s all part of a rezoning application Tennessee-based CBL Properties submitted to the city late last month, which could pave the way for more development with a wider variety of uses at the corner of 95th Street and Quivira Road.
That could include new theatre and conservatory spaces for local arts organization The Culture House near one of the mall’s key anchor tenants, as well as more than 250 apartments, a multistory hotel, additional dining options, green space and other amenities surrounding the mall.
Converting shopping malls like this isn’t a new concept. In recent years, developers across the U.S. have been looking at surviving but underutilized shopping malls for potential mixed-use redevelopment, with a particular eye on more housing.
At the time of publication, CBL Properties had not returned the Post’s request for comment.
What’s proposed at Oak Park Mall?
Project plans submitted by CBL Properties show new additions to the mall for The Culture House — currently based in Olathe — near JCPenney. That would include a nearly 102,000-square-foot, three-story theatre and conference center expansion, plus a ground-floor academy space.
Another big change would be a new four-story apartment building with 260 units located at the edge of the mall property near Nordstrom, where excess surface parking is currently.
Plus, a 120-room hotel is proposed right along 97th Street, on the south side of the property, also in an area currently filled by surface parking.
The preliminary plans also show:
- a 20,000-square-foot, two-story mixed-use building with office space and room for ground-level retail near Houlihan’s
- a roughly 3,500-square-foot restaurant near the Macy’s Furniture store
- and a 4,500-square-foot restaurant at the corner of 97th and Quiviria.
The plans also show the former On The Border restaurant — most recently used as a welcome center and transportation hub during the World Cup — being converted into a new Chick-Fil-A.
Additionally, new park space along Quivira and a butterfly garden on Nieman Road are proposed, as are more sidewalks and improved pedestrian access to the site. One entrance from 95th Street will also be converted into a roundabout.
Today, the mall property is commercially zoned, which limits it to retail, dining and other similar uses. That means a rezoning is required to bring any of this to life, potentially a shift to the city’s Mixed-Use District zoning classification.
However, the proposal to bring a wider variety of uses to the mall property is in line with what Framework OP, the city’s new long-range development plan, calls for in that part of Overland Park.
Framework OP identifies the Oak Park Mall area for higher-intensity redevelopment under the Regional Activity District character type, with preferred uses such as high-density housing, office users, vertically stacked mixed-use and supported uses such as hotels, retail and parks.
Oak Park Mall is the last of its kind in JoCo
First opened in the 1970s and expanded in the 1990s, Oak Park Mall has long served as one of the major economic engines for Overland Park.
It sparked several retail offshoots on both the Overland Park and Lenexa sides of the intersection at 95th and Quivira.
“In a time of a challenging environment for shopping malls, it’s still a pretty viable, important sales tax producer and gathering space in the city,” Deputy City Manager Kristy Stallings said of the mall last year.
Over the years, the mall has managed to attract top retailers and major brands, all the way from Macy’s — an original anchor tenant — to cosmetics retailer Sephora.
Other malls across Johnson County haven’t had the same staying power.
Metcalf South Mall in Overland Park closed its doors in 2014 after 50 years of business, and the final building affiliated with the retail center was demolished in 2022.
Mission Center Mall started closing down in 2005 and was demolished soon after.
The Great Mall of the Great Plains in southern Olathe formally closed its doors in late 2015 after years of struggling. Eventually, much of the mall was demolished the following year, leaving behind a Burlington Coat Factory store that continued to operate through early 2023.
Efforts to redevelop those now-shuttered mall sites have seen mixed results.
Garmin acquired the former Great Mall property in Olathe, but the company hasn’t publicly formalized any plans for it.
The future of the old Mission Center site, now called Mission Gateway, remains uncertain as well amid foreclosures, property tax delinquency and numerous false starts.
Metcalf South’s old site has seen piecemeal redevelopment over the years with new dining, apartments, shopping and entertainment users filling much of the property.
Oak Park Mall has managed to avoid that same fate as its former competitors. Recently, Overland Park terminated a special incentive sales tax seven years ahead of schedule due to the mall’s early repayment.
Still, concerns about departing anchor tenants — including Nordstrom, which had planned to leave the mall for the Country Club Plaza before scuttling those plans — have at times thrown the mall’s future into question.
What’s next for Oak Park Mall rezoning?
The rezoning application for Oak Park Mall was submitted on July 22 and is still working its way through the planning process.
Currently, it is tentatively scheduled for a public hearing and consideration during the Overland Park Planning Commission meeting on Sept. 14, though that’s subject to change. It’s common for larger redevelopment projects and mixed-use developments like this to be delayed.
After the planning commission makes a recommendation on the Oak Park application, it would go to the Overland Park City Council for a final vote.
Later, if approved, CBL Properties would need to submit a final development plan for the planning commission to review.
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