photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

A plaza area is shown in the Nottingham development in Eudora on Dec. 13, 2025. The city and a developers have signed a preliminary deal to build residential and commercial units on the ground surrounding the plaza.

Development around Eudora has been a hot topic in the past few years, and this past week, the Eudora Commission helped pave the way to a future mixed-use development just north of Kansas Highway 10.

On Monday, the Eudora Commission approved a sale agreement with Borchardt Development for the remaining six lots of the Nottingham Center, which previously housed the closed Nottingham school building and surrounding 15 acres. The city had bought that land just north of Eudora’s Church Street exit off K-10 from the Eudora school district in 2015 for $850,000 with the goal of bringing development, as the Journal-World reported, and three commercial developments — a Casey’s General Store, a Wendy’s and Scooter’s drive-thru coffee shop — have opened so far.

The sale of the six lots, which was an agreement of around $1.6 million, can eventually lead to a project around Eudora’s Village Green, intended to be a focal point of community activity, that could add 335,000 square feet of commercial and multi-family development to the city.

Zack Daniel, Eudora’s city manager, said that the project is still in the early stages, but the proposal “ticks a lot of boxes” for what Eudora is hoping for in development. Daniel said he is anticipating having development agreement drafts ready for review by mid-2026, and he hopes the city and developer will come to an agreement for creating a project that works for everybody and capitalizes on the growth in the area.

“We’re excited to take this step,” Daniel said.

Part of the excitement for Daniel is the fact the developer has local ties. The leader of the group, Michael Borchardt, currently lives in Eudora, and he told the Journal-World via email he believes the development will “be an integral artery to the support and growth of the community.”

Plus, the experience of the developer is another bonus. The Borchardt Group has been in the development business since 1985, and has been doing a significant amount of work in Johnson County for 10-plus years. Daniel said the firm has already worked on many projects similar to what is being proposed in Eudora, so there is already a “proof of concept” out there of what people can expect from the development. Daniel believes those two keys will be a huge asset for how the development can come about.

“They are not starting from scratch,” Daniel said. “They recognize the specialness of Eudora and community values they want to bring to the forefront and shine a light on.”

Borchardt said the project, as currently proposed, would have three components around the Village Green: “The Village Shops,” which will have up to 50,000 square feet of retail, service and dining space; “The Village Lofts,” which will include around 140 apartments and “The Village Villas,” which will have ten two-story villa units.

Borchardt hopes the mixed use area will create an “urban hometown feel” for residents and he wants to see a wide variety of services and options like dining, medical services, office space and even a hardware store.

“We see the Nottingham Center development as a thriving ecosystem working together with the whole city, contributing to the city’s strength and supporting the needs of the residents of Eudora,” Borchardt said.

The potential development is coming at a time when Eudora is looking to capitalize on the attention centered on the K-10 corridor. The Panasonic plant development in De Soto, which is expected to bring 4,000 jobs, is just 10 minutes away, and Daniel said there are a lot of advantages to the city’s easy access along the Kcorridor. The fact the Nottingham Center development would be visible right off of K-10 — where commuters pass through every day — could “shine a light” on Eudora and potentially help sell itself.

“(If people) start seeing nice new buildings and apartments going up and more activity in that central area … it could really serve a lot of masters in that respect,” Daniel said.

Although it could serve as a chance for future development or growth, Daniel also said the development could tackle two needs that city leaders keyed in on: the need to diversify its revenue streams and the need to create more housing.

With the sale agreements now made, Daniel said the due diligence inspection period officially kicks off, but he said the city is working on a variety of economic analyses to figure out the total impact. He noted that so far, public reaction has been a mix of “curiosity and concern,” partly because Eudora has not seen a development like this before. But he also said that residents are excited about more shopping or dining options.

In terms of how the project may impact taxpayers, while the project would be located in a TIF district, Daniel noted the developer has not requested any additional incentives at this point. Additionally, he thinks developing a vibrant space in the middle of the community would create more sales taxes and also businesses and offices that would pay into the city’s utility funds.

That can be crucial with huge infrastructure projects coming up. In October, the city began work on the first phase of a more than $50 million project to build a new water treatment plant that will replace the current aging facility, as the Journal-World reported. If the city has more residents, more faucets, more businesses, Daniel said the obligation of big projects becomes more spread out.

“The broad impact to taxpayers is a more robust funding stream for city projects in both our general fund — and just as importantly to our utility fund,” Daniel said. “The more people you have using, the more the tax burden is flattened out.”

Although the purchase agreement represents a key next step for the project, there is still a lot more work to be done from both sides. Daniel said that will include spelling out public participation for providing feedback or sharing concerns to make sure that people have their voices heard and “have a seat at the table.”

The Nottingham Center project is not the only potential growth coming to Eudora. In October, as the Journal-World reported, the city annexed 134-acres of property along K-10 with the expectation it will serve as residential development. Another developer was proposing a 72-unit apartment complex in the city that would practically be across the street from the Nottingham Center.

Managing the growth is something that Daniel wants to be able to do, but he believes that Eudora is in a great position for development, and this project proposal is a key for the city to make the best of the region’s growth.

“We can leverage our location to attract a wide variety of development — residential, commercial, industrial — with this project,” Daniel said.