The Overland Park Historical Society is one step closer to selling the historic Strang Car Barn property in downtown Overland Park.
The stone building is considered a key structure in old Overland Park and an iconic part of the neighborhood’s streetscape, capping Santa Fe Drive at 79th Street. The historic society put it on the market this spring after the long-time furniture store in the space shuttered.
The Overland Park City Council on Monday voted 10-2 to release a restricted use covenant. The action formally removed a past agreement that required an historical display or exhibit on the property.
“Everybody in the city that has been involved in this discussion about this building for the last 50 years, is worried about saving this structure,” said Mayor Curt Skoog. “Approving this will allow this transaction to move forward cleanly and for hopefully a new owner to purchase it and bring it to life as it needs to for its next cycle of life.”
Strang Car Barn dates back to 1900s
- The building was part of the Strang Line rail system that connected Kansas City, Missouri, to suburban Johnson County.
- When it was completed in 1906, it served as a repair station and the power plant for the rail until the system was closed in 1940.
- Later on, it was home to an auto body shop and then the furniture store.
Old agreement didn’t protect Strang Car Barn from demolition
The restricted use covenant goes back to an old loan contract the city and the Overland Park Heritage Foundation reached in the late 1990s. At the time, the city offered the foundation a loan to help buy the building, stipulating that the group display some sort of historical exhibit on the property related to Overland Park, Strang Line and Johnson County.
The loan was eventually repaid in full and the historical society acquired the building in 2014, but the historical exhibit requirement remained.
The covenant did not protect the old car barn from demolition, said City Attorney Michael Koss. He said that, under the terms of the agreement, a property owner could have demolished the building, set up a new historical exhibit and still been in compliance with the covenant.
But, before the building can be sold, Dave White, president of the historical society, said the covenant had to be dissolved since the title agency involved in the deal views it as a “cloud” on the building’s title.
Strang Car Barn won’t be demolished, historical society says
Though the car barn looks likely to come under new ownership soon and the prospective buyer has not been publicly disclosed, White said the car barn will likely continue to stand.
He told the city council this week and the Overland Park Community Development Committee last week the new buyer intends to keep the structure intact, preserving at least the stone facade.
White has said it could become a day spa, architecture offices or a sit-down restaurant of some kind.
Strang Car Barn, Strang Line Depot at risk of foreclosure
- The historical society put the car barn up as collateral for the purchase of the historic Strang Line Depot building up the street at 8001 Santa Fe Drive.
- While the furniture store was operating, the historical society used the money it made off its lease to pay down the debt on the depot, but that money has dried up.
- Other deals to lease the space in the months since have not been viable, which has put the historical society in the position to sell it instead, White said.
- The money from the sale would allow the group to pay off the debt on the depot and set aside some money for the renovations required as well, he said.
- Without the sale, White worries that both buildings could be foreclosed on.
Cox, Farassati vote no
- Councilmembers Jeff Cox and Faris Farassati voted against releasing the covenant.
- Cox said he’d like to keep the covenant on the property as a “bargaining chip” with any possible negotiations that might arise with the next owner.
- “I feel like some bad decisions put us in a really awkward spot, and we’ve got kind of two bad options,” Cox said.
More on the historic Strang Line properties: This historic building in downtown Overland Park could soon get a facelift
