Plans to reimagine excess parking and unused space at Corporate Woods near the heart of Overland Park are moving ahead, paving the way for a future with housing, dining and retail.

Called The Woods, the site in question is in the northwest corner of the major office district near the heart of Overland Park. Currently, there are some mostly unused parking lots for existing office buildings and some undeveloped space that was originally planned for office development that never came to be.

Now, Georgia-based developer GSR wants to build more than 1,200 new apartments and townhomes alongside new retail and dining options while keeping the office buildings that have defined the office park for decades.

The project is one of many in the pipeline that seek to remake the corporate headquarters and large-scale office parks that have historically been Overland Park’s primary economic industry in a bid to keep pace with the evolving nature of office work post-pandemic.

So far, a lot of that redevelopment energy has been centered on College Boulevard and Metcalf Avenue, where one of the region’s largest job centers is located. Corporate Woods itself falls into that area, with one edge of the office park right on College.

On Monday, the Overland Park Planning Commission voted 10-0 to recommend approval of a rezoning request for Corporate Woods, paving the way for more mixed-use development.

Despite concerns from residents in the nearby Shannon Valley neighborhood, commissioners were generally supportive of the development.

Commissioner Ned Reitzes called the proposal to bring housing and retail to the site a much-needed “shot in the arm” for the office park he thinks has “lost some of its luster” since he first worked there in the 1990s.

“I think that the last thing we need at Corporate Woods is more office development,” he said, adding that he likes the inclusion of housing in the plan in particular. “It will provide a real boost to the College Boulevard corridor.”

Commissioner Chris Staus was absent from the meeting.

1,200+ housing units, retail proposed at Corporate Woods

The new plans for this portion of the Corporate Woods property show 1,206 new residential units, comprised of townhomes, multiplex-style buildings and apartments, as well as 29,000 square feet of new commercial space for retail and dining.

In addition to all of that, more than 475,000 square feet of structured parking garages are also proposed across multiple buildings.

In all, GSR wants to build about 2.4 million square feet of new construction over five distinct phases, which are expected to take about 10 years to complete.

A lot of this will be built to replace seas of excess surface parking that sits mostly unused day-to-day, something Overland Park officials have stated is a major priority in office park redevelopment efforts.

Alongside the new construction, the developer is also planning a central civic lawn space and new trail connections.

To bring the full plan to life, Overland Park will have to approve a rezoning for the property to make it all eligible for mixed-use development. Today, some of the property does have mixed-use zoning after a 2008 rezoning, but some of it still retains office zoning from the 1990s.

Though some of the undeveloped property that was intended for office development will be lost to this development, no existing office buildings are on the chopping block.

Neighbors have safety, tree preservation, traffic, density concerns

Multiple residents from the nearby neighborhoods, particularly the Shannon Valley subdivision south of Corporate Woods, spoke during the public hearing about their concerns with the project as proposed. The issues they raised ran the gamut, from the density of the project to traffic it will generate and general safety.

Multiple residents also worried about the proposed project’s potential impingement on natural areas and wildlife, like some of the wooded areas that are slated to be removed to make way for this development.

For Barbara Varhol, it’s a serious affair. She is a regular trail walker through Corporate Woods, averaging about six miles of walking per day, even after she was assaulted in a parking lot for one of the office buildings in broad daylight.

“It has scared me. It has put fear into my husband,” she said. “If you add 1,200 more homes in that one area, that has a great potential to have more accosts and assaults in that park.”

Other neighbors, like David Eulitt, compared the project to the nearby Brookridge Golf Club mixed-use redevelopment, which has had some trouble getting going after breaking ground in 2023.

“It demonstrates what can happen when an ambitious multiphase development takes much longer than anticipated,” he said, drawing parallels between The Woods and Brookridge. “What enforceable guarantees will protect surrounding neighborhoods if construction stalls after mature trees have been cleared and the land has been disturbed?”

Next steps for Corporate Woods rezoning:

Now that the planning commission has voted to recommend approval of the rezoning application and associated site plans, it all goes to the Overland Park City Council for consideration next.

The city council is tentatively scheduled to hear the application on Dec. 7, during its 7:30 p.m. meeting at Overland Park City Hall.

Since no one on the planning commission voted against the proposal, it’s likely to go on the consent agenda. That means the city council may not individually discuss it before voting on it with a series of other items from committees.

From there, the developer will likely need to submit a final site plan, which the planning commission could approve.

Keep reading: Developers pitch new ‘chapter’ for Corporate Woods, with 1,200+ apartments and townhomes