“Doing any development today is really hard. Challenges on construction costs, challenges on financing. Doing mixed-use is a whole other level of hard,” said Michael VanBuskirk, SIOR, CCIM, CRE, vice chairman and principal at Newmark Zimmer.

Yet, several substantially sized and transformative mixed-use projects are underway across the Kansas City market.

VanBuskirk was joined by panelists Brandon Brensing, VP of real estate development at Ryan Companies US, Inc.; Grant Curtin, principal and VP at Curtin Property Company; Dan Horn, development manager at IAS Partners, Ltd.; Holly Rome, EVP, national retail leasing at JLL; and Scott Rosemann, P.E., F.SEI, LEED AP, COO at Rosemann & Associates, P.C. at MetroWire Media Kansas City’s Mixed-Use Masterpieces program last week. Erin Rosenthal, P.E., president at PMA Engineering, moderated.

The panelists discussed some of the current area projects as well as the challenges and insights for creating successful and visionary mixed-use projects.

Above: MWM KC Mixed-Use Masterpieces panelists (L to R): **Holly Rome** of **JLL**, **Brandon Brensing** of **Ryan Companies US Inc.**, and **Scott Rosemann** of **Rosemann & Associates P.C.** discuss the challenges and timelines for mixed-use developments in KC. Photo credit: Jacia Phillips | Arch Photo KC

One of those projects is Bluhawk, a 277-acre mixed-use project in south Overland Park, Kansas, a large portion of which already is completed. The project includes 380 residential units, AdventHealth South Overland Park Hospital, office and retail. A 420,000 SF sports complex will open later this year.

Another is Discovery Park in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, a 268-acre project.

“We’ve taken the live, work, play and we’ve added stay in there. We’ve got two hotels in our first phase . . . and then medical office was a piece of it because we looked at how close we were to all the regional hospitals, and Lee’s Summit is a medical hub. And then the entertainment piece. . . . We looked at the opportunity to make this a regional destination,” said VanBuskirk.

While Bluhawk and Discovery Park are creating new developments where there were none, some major adaptive reuse and redevelopment projects also are underway.

One is the redevelopment of the former site of the Metro North Mall in the Northland, which is a 106-acre mixed-use development called Metro North Crossing.

“For mall redevelopments in particular, in our experience, the thing we’ve had going for us from day one at Metro North is although the mall became obsolete, the real estate that it sat on is still awesome. We are right at the corner of two highways—169 and 152—right in the middle of the Northland,” said Horn.

Another project in Overland Park is the redevelopment of the Brookridge Golf Course, a 200-acre site being developed by Curtin Property Company. According to Curtain, the project, called Meridian, will feature 2,000 units of multifamily, two million SF of office, retail, food and beverage, entertainment, several hotels and green space. Once completed, the project will retain 18 holes of golf and have a health and wellness focus.

Above: MWM KC attendees enjoy breakfast and coffee while listening in on the panel discussion moderated by **Erin Rosenthal** of **PMA Engineering**. Photo credit: Jacia Phillips | Arch Photo KC

Mixed-use projects help to satisfy housing demand, which remains high, Brensing said.

“Kansas City has fared fairly well when it comes to rents, absorption, vacancies and those kinds of standpoints. We’ve seen about a 2.9 percent year over year rent increase. With a limited amount of supply coming onboard, we expect that number to increase through the remainder of the year and potentially into 2025.. . . And we’re going to continue to see a lot of growth not only in class A, but also the class B multifamily,” said Brensing.

VanBuskirk said Kansas City’s retail market is very strong. And although office vacancy in Kansas City is pushing 18 percent, office is doing well in mixed-use projects, he said.

“As we do these projects, we incorporate office into it as a very important critical component to have success,” said VanBuskirk.

The panelists discussed the importance of placemaking in mixed-use projects.

“What it does is it creates an authenticity. It creates a connection to the community. And, it creates a vibrancy in the development. And it’s not just one thing that makes that place that you want to go to. It’s everything that’s put together. It’s the architecture. It’s the landscaping. It’s what retailers you put in there. . . . So, it’s very purposeful and intentional,” Rome said.

“Placemaking is huge. There’s no doubt about it. And the thing that we caution all our developers is placemaking happens, whether you mean for it to or not. Every development is making your place whether you know it or not,” Rosemann said.

According to Horn, another critical element to the success of a mixed-use project is understanding up front what the specific community in which a developer is putting a project wants and what the community is missing.

“Every trade area in Kansas City is a little bit different,” Horn said.

“Talk with your city officials. Understand what they are looking for,” said Brensing.

Above (L to R): Deb Blaylock, Karen Saper and Jason Osborne network at MWM KC’s Mixed-Use event. Photo credit: Jacia Phillips | Arch Photo KC

Mixed-use projects present financing challenges, and although lenders and financing sources are less leery of these projects than they once were, many mixed-use projects would not happen without including a public private partnership component, Curtain said.

“It’s really difficult to make financial sense without the public’s side of investment in the project, whether it be property tax abatement or sales tax incentives and things of that nature,” said Horn.

According to Rosemann, it is important to include current architecture and design trends in mixed-use projects because that’s what tenants and shoppers expect. Design trends today include pet-friendly amenities and places on site to create an “Instagram moment.”

Rosemann also said being nimble and flexible in designing mixed-use spaces is crucial.

“If there’s one thing COVID and everybody being forced to go home taught us, it is that we end up using our spaces in the life of a building in ways that we really, really can’t envision now. So how do we give some thought to a space that can be used multiple ways, whether that’s today or five or 10 years from now,” he said.

“We’re really getting creative with these developments to get people to work there, live there, play there,” Rosenthal said.

Kansas City’s mixed-use market is faring well.

“I would say the fact that we have everyone here at the table talking about the size of the projects we’re talking about tells you how Kansas City is doing. And, that’s very well,” said VanBuskirk.

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Feature photo credit: Jacia Phillips | Arch Photo KC

View the complete event photo album by Arch Photo KC here