A group led by Lawrence developer Doug Compton has won court approval of a $5.8 million deal to buy 180 acres of prime development ground from Farmland Industries Inc.

Farmland officials confirmed Monday that Eastside Acquisitions LLC won an auction last week to buy the 180 acres of buffer ground at Kansas Highway 10 and O’Connell Road near the vacant Farmland Industries fertilizer plant. The property is south of K-10 and doesn’t include any of the land occupied by the plant.

Bill Newsome, a Lawrence developer and partner in Eastside Acquisitions, said the group planned to create a mixed-use development that would include apartments, duplexes, single-family homes, light industrial and retail space, perhaps for a grocery store.

“We’re excited to be able to master-plan 180 acres in Lawrence,” Newsome said. “That opportunity doesn’t come along very often.”

The group hasn’t filed development plans with city officials, but Newsome said he expected to do so in about 60 days. Preliminary plans call for about 90 acres to be devoted to residential uses, but he said it was too early to estimate how many homes that might mean in the area.

The new homes could help attract a long-sought grocery store to serve the eastern part of Lawrence. Newsome said grocery stores would be among the tenants the development would try to attract.

“We know firsthand that the area could use a grocery store, and certainly with rooftops increasing out there, we think that will only increase the need,” Newsome said.

How much commercial development will be allowed on the site may be a matter of debate. The city’s existing comprehensive plan calls for the area to be developed with a mix of single-family, multifamily and office development.

But planning commissioners are rewriting parts of the plan and have said a “neighborhood commercial center” would be appropriate somewhere near K-10 and O’Connell Road. Such a center could be similar in size to the Hy-Vee Food & Drug Stores development near Clinton Parkway and Kasold Drive.

¢ 6News video: Farmland sells 180-acres to local developement company¢ County may contest company’s future deals¢ Commissioners’ concerns may doom city-county bid for Farmland plant (4-20-03)¢ County to discuss possible Farmland acquisition (4-13-03)¢ 6News video: City and county commissioners discuss the fate of the Farmland plant (3-13-03)

But Newsome has filed a request with planning officials to allow a “community commercial center” in the area, which could be the size of a development at Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. The designation could open the area to big-box retail development.

Sheila Stogsdill, assistant planning director for the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Office, said her staff was wary of allowing such large-scale commercial development in the area.

“The thought from staff is that there probably is a need for another community center, but the logical location for one is probably farther east, where you would have K-10 and the trafficway intersect,” Stogsdill said. “The debate at the planning commission will be whether you can support two large retail centers in that area.”

All of the property, which includes 55 acres on the southwest corner of K-10 and O’Connell Road and 125 acres on the southeast corner of the intersection, is outside city limits. In addition to being annexed, city officials have said O’Connell Road would need major improvements before the area could be developed, and sewer improvements would be needed for much of the property.

The Compton-led group first made a $5 million bid for the property in late March. The property attracted one other bidder, a group led by Lawrence developer Duane Schwada.

Kansas City, Mo.-based Farmland shut down its Lawrence fertilizer plant in May 2001 and sought bankruptcy protection last year.