The Olathe City Council has approved tax incentives for a massive industrial and residential development off of US 169 Highway.
The council recently voted 7-0 to rezone 247 acres of rural land, northeast of 167th Street and 169 Highway. The developer, Blue Springs Safety Storage South, is looking to build 13 warehouses, apartments, townhomes, duplexes and single-family homes.
This week, the council voted 6-0 approving $252 million in industrial revenue bonds for the construction of the warehouses as part of a new business park, on 139 acres of the larger project, on the east side of 169 Highway between 159th and 167th streets. The industrial revenue bonds will allow the warehouse portion of the development to secure a 50% property tax abatement phased in for 10 years.
The developer has not yet named any companies that plan to occupy the warehouses. But officials estimate the project would create more than 200 jobs in the first year, and more than 1,000 jobs within 10 years. Worker salaries are estimated to average $44,000 in the first year, and $57,400 after a decade.
The project comes as Olathe sees booming industrial development, including the $84 million expansion of the Honeywell aerospace manufacturing facility, the move of Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Company to southern Olathe, Walmart’s new beef packaging facility, and Chick-fil-A’s distribution center.
The industrial growth, and requests from the city for tax incentives for such projects, have started a debate among council members on the wages offered for such jobs. Councilman Matt Schoonover, for example, has questioned approving incentives for projects with wages lower than what it would take to afford to live in Olathe.
But that broader debate didn’t stall progress on the proposed industrial and residential project off of 169 Highway. The council has advanced the plan, despite some residents raising concerns about truck traffic, noise and potential crowding at nearby schools.
Curt Peterson, an attorney representing the developer, said in 2012 VanTrust Real Estate acquired the 250-acre site and brought it into the city through annexation. It attempted to rezone the entire site to be industrial, but dropped the plans for a lack of support.
“That ground, even being owned by an excellent developer in this area, VanTrust, has sat really unused. There’s really been no real attempts to use it in 13 years,” Peterson said.
He called it a “hard site” to plan for, “with a railroad track and 169, with two major thoroughfares, with very important residential to the east.” He said city documents also call for the land to be an employment hub.
The industrial piece of the project would take over the western half of the site, along 169 Highway, with warehouses ranging from 62,000 to 264,000 square feet. The residential piece of the project would be designed so that multifamily units are closest to the industrial, adding a buffer between the warehouses and single-family homes.
To the north, the developer plans 33 four-plex buildings with townhomes and five, 30-unit apartment buildings. Residential in the southeastern part of the land would include 13 townhome buildings with 118 units. East of that, plans call for 94 duplexes. And farthest away from the warehouses, the developer plans 113 standard single-family lots.
The project would be built in four phases, starting with four industrial buildings and the multifamily in the northern area closest to 159th. Several road improvements are included, such as building a new public street central to the site and adding turn lanes.
The council will later vote on officially issuing the industrial revenue bonds.
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