photo by: Submitted graphic

CBC Real Estate LLC has released this conceptual rendering of proposed redevelopment of the Nottingham property in Eudora with a total of 90,500 square feet of retail development with apartments above some storefronts. The Eudora City Commission voted April 11 to start negotiating the development of the 15-acre site with the Kansas City, Mo.,-based company.

Lawrence isn’t the only place where talk of big retail developments is taking hold.

A former elementary school site in Eudora may become the newest suburban shopping option for travelers along busy Kansas Highway 10 between Lawrence and Kansas City. The recent announcement that the Eudora City Commission will begin negotiations with an experienced Kansas City-based development firm already has imaginations running in the town of a little more than 6,000 people.

Eudora City Manager Gary Ortiz said “managing expectations” will be a big task as the community continues to work on redeveloping the former Nottingham school site, which is just north of the Church Street interchange on K-10.

Ortiz is cautioning that a concept plan that shows more than 90,000 square feet of retail space, plus loft-style apartments for the property, is still subject to a lot of changes. But still, Ortiz admits that he’s excited about the idea.

Last week, the Eudora City Commission agreed to start negotiations with CBC Real Estate Group LLC on the redevelopment of the property. CBC was one of two firms to respond to a request for proposals to redevelop the 15-acre site. CBC was chosen because of its experience, financial resources, and adherence to the city’s design guidelines, city officials said.

The concept plan submitted showed several elements. They included:

• A 30,000-square-foot anchor retailer on the south end of the property. The store will be near the existing Eudora recreation center, but the two properties will be separated by a row of trees.

• A 20,000-square-foot building with multiple storefronts.

• Three 10,000-square-foot buildings with ground floor retail shops and second floor apartments.

• Three 3,500-square-foot retail buildings, plus significant landscaping and parking throughout the property.

Mike Belew, CBC vice president of development, said the location of the property made it attractive for future retail development.

“It’s similar to sites we’ve developed in the past,” he said. “It’s very similar to the Shoal Creek project we did with Liberty, Mo., from the visibility and access standpoints.”

CBC was selected as the developer of the Liberty site in 2013. It, too, was a 15-acre plot on a four-lane highway. Two years later, its 125,000 square feet of mixed retail and dining development was filled.

CBC has drawn national retailers to several of its projects in the Kansas City area, but it has not yet cited possible tenants that may be drawn to the Eudora project.

Belew, though, said CBC was in agreement with the city that the development needed to avoid cannibalizing existing Eudora businesses as it marketed retail space.

“I agree with the leadership of Eudora,” Belew said. “The goal is to bring in new users and markets to the community. We’re looking to market for the benefit of the community.”

Based in Kansas City, Mo., CBC offers services in development, development management, multi-unit development, property management and consulting. Among the projects CBC has been a part of are Woodside Village in Westwood, the Men’s Wearhouse development in Zona Rosa and Eisenhower Crossing in Lansing.

For all of its experience, CBC is proposing one element new to the firm for Eudora.

“We’ve been involved with mixed-use residential and retail before, but from the vertical standpoint of first-floor retail, second-floor residential, yes this is new,” Belew said. “I think it adds viability to the project. There’s a very strong trend to have mixed use in development projects.”

Eudora Mayor Tim Reazin said he was pleased with how the parking dedicated for the apartments and associated tree screening would buffer the west side of the development.

“My concern in this whole process was for the folks who live on Elm Street,” he said. “I didn’t want them to look out on the back side of some strip mall with HVAC units and trash bins.”

City Manager Ortiz also thinks the project will fit in well with the existing neighborhood.

“The anchor store works well with the recreation center, and I like the buffering to Elm Street,” Ortiz said. “What this developer has proposed is unique in terms of common facilities that are attractive and harmonious in an existing neighborhood.”

As for the conceptual renderings, Belew said CBC feels comfortable that “what we put out there is viable.” But he adds how viable won’t be known with certainty until there are market tests of the site plan.

To follow will be the much more intricate redevelopment agreement. That agreement will establish the contractual responsibilities of both parties, including the performance thresholds the developer must meet to qualify for incentives and public improvements that are to be a part of the project.

Adding to the complexity will be the need to involve the Eudora school district and Douglas County should the agreement include the expected creation of a tax increment financing district.

TIF district arrangements capture tax revenue generated from a property’s development to pay for a number of costs associated with its improvement, including land acquisition, demolition and public and on-site improvements.