Another restaurant with a drive-thru is planned at the former Metcalf South shopping center.

A smaller unnamed KC-owned restaurant that will have a drive-thru seems poised to replace plans for an office and commercial building at the southeast corner of 97th and Metcalf.

Formerly where Metcalf South once stood, this corner has been ripe for redevelopment since the final retail buildings were demolished a few years ago, though plans have seen near-constant changes.

Since then, some spot development has popped up, primarily restaurants with drive-thrus along Metcalf and some residential buildings at the back of the site. At times, city leaders have met all of this with a less-than-enthusiastic response, lamenting what they see as a deviation from the Vision Metcalf goals.

On Monday, the Overland Park Planning Commission voted 9-0 to approve a revised preliminary development plan to pave the way for the restaurant.

“I personally don’t have a problem with this,” said Commissioner Jenna Reyes, pointing to the other drive-thrus and auto-centric uses at the corner already.

Commissioner Chris Staus was absent from the meeting. Commissioner Holly Streeter-Schaefer, who was present for the meeting, was absent during this vote.

What’s changing in the 97th Street and Metcalf plans?

The site in question is west of the Thompson Thrift apartments, now leasing for early 2027 move-in dates.

Under the old plans, this roughly 1-acre parcel was originally intended to be used for a 7,500-square-foot retail and office building, under a plan approved earlier this year.

However, that is once again changing. Now, Box Development wants to make it a 3,400-square-foot fast-casual restaurant with a drive-thru that would wrap around the building.

Kenny Xiao, the restaurant’s owner, described it as “a family restaurant” with an “Asian food focus,” be declined to offer more details. His company, Royal Investment Group, operates restaurants on the Missouri side in Blue Springs and Warrensburg, but he said this would be “a new concept.”

Old Metcalf South Mall site has redeveloped sort of piecemeal

When Vision Metcalf, the city’s long-term guide for remaking its economic backbone, was finalized nearly 20 years ago, Metcalf South was still operating, so the plan doesn’t really address what to do with the now-former mall property.

In fact, a major focus of this particular subarea is the plan to someday locate a new city hall in a wider civic campus with an associated public park or green space here. Those ideas have more or less been scuttled now that the city has acquired an office building on College Boulevard for the future Overland Park City Hall.

Still, Vision Metcalf considers the area surrounding 95th Street and Metcalf to be a “prime location for commercial and office activity,” in part because of the mall’s legacy, and identifies it for mixed-use development that includes housing and walkability. Concept art included in the plan shows dense urban-style development with mid-rise buildings on Metcalf.

What’s actually come to life at the old Metcalf South site isn’t quite what Vision Metcalf had in mind for the area. Over the years, city officials have expressed discontent with how the former Metcalf South Mall site has been redeveloped in such a piecemeal fashion without a cohesive plan.

The result is a bunch of individual single-story drive-thru restaurants and other auto-centric uses, like a gas station, grouped together on Metcalf. That isn’t exactly what Vision Metcalf had in mind and doesn’t make for a particularly walkable environment, either, city leaders have complained.

When other drive-thru restaurants have come up around 95th and Metcalf, planning commissioners and city councilmembers alike have expressed discomfort with the proliferation of eateries with drive-thrus, particularly those than emphasize that kind of service over sit-down options.

While reviewing one such application in 2024, Commissioner Holly Streeter-Schaefer likened Metcalf to a “fast-food haven.”

On top of all that, the multi-story housing options that have emerged at the site are tucked into the back, when Vision Metcalf calls for housing density to be placed right on the main street.

Plus, the redevelopment plans themselves have been nearly constantly evolving since the final store on the site closed in 2017, with multiple iterations falling through or changing before they actually get going.