Grundfos USA Submits New Office HQ Plan

The city Planning Commission has asked that the company submit more information on what it wants to do at the site, which is in the area that's becoming one of the swiftest growing commercial areas in the state. Eric Wade, city administrator, tells GlobeSt.com that the City Council is expected to go over the plan, including a rezoning request, at its April 15 meeting.

The firm is currently leasing about 60,000 sf in the neighboring city of Olathe. Blake Schreck, president of the Lenexa Chamber of Commerce, says the company had considered an expansion near its current facility, but that never materialized. "Our site gives them better access, and they wanted to own their own facility," Schreck says.

Both Wade and Schreck tell GlobeSt.com that this is just the beginning of a long process, but one that they think will be successful. "It's kind of a moving target," Schreck says. "Their lease isn't up until 2011, and they're still expanding and buying companies, so the size of the office isn't exact yet." A cost has not been given yet for the project.

In fact, the hotel may be the first property that goes up on the property, he says. "It's a very hot, developing corridor, with several different projects in the works, with flex, headquarters and office facilities. It's also near the large, new urbanism City Center project at Renner Boulevard and 87th Street Parkway." The 203-acre City Center mixed-use neighborhood consists of all four corners of Renner Boulevard and 87th Street Parkway. When completely built out, it will be home to 1.1 million sf of retail, 1.2 million sf of office, 90,000 sf of civic uses, 784 hotel rooms and more than 1,500 residential units.

The area is expected to grow by another 50,000 residents in the next two decades, Schreck says. "The demographics are headed this way," he says. "The county was always growing south, and now it's heading along highway K-10 and K-7. With all this residential, the commercial and retail continues to follow."