photo by: City of Eudora

A rendering of potential development at the Nottingham Center in Eudora is shown.

There is no shortage of advice that ends with the command “follow the money.” But what does the money often follow? Homes, many times. So, perhaps it should be no surprise that there’s news of a bank deciding to expand into Eudora.

Eudora is the Douglas County community that will be closest to the new Panasonic electric vehicle battery plant that is expected to produce 4,000 jobs and $4 billion in investment in De Soto, which is just a five-minute drive from Eudora.

Baldwin City-based Mid America Bank is betting that the Panasonic project will produce plenty of new homes in Eudora in the relatively near future. The bank has signed a letter of intent to purchase a lot in the new Nottingham Center commercial district that is being developed by the City of Eudora.

How many new homes are expected in the community of about 6,500 people about six miles east of Lawrence? David Hill, president of Mid America Bank, was reluctant to guess how big that number may be, but had no reservations about making one population prediction for the community.

“10,000 people seems very realistic and attainable,” Hill said of Eudora’s future population total in the coming years. “That almost seems easy.”

Hill said his company has been looking at expanding into the Eudora market for several years.

“I’m not going to say Panasonic sealed the deal, but it pushed it faster than what we thought we could do,” Hill said.

Hill said the Eudora project would include a full service bank with lobby, drive-thru, ATM service, and both commercial and residential loan services.

“We specialize in real estate lending, and we’re really looking to grow our deposit base,” Hill said.

Barring a recessionary downturn, Hill said he expected to begin construction on the bank in May, which likely would allow for the facility to open in early 2024. The City of Eudora recently approved a letter of intent to accept an $800,000 offer from Mid America Bank to buy one of the prime commercial sites in the Nottingham Center, which is being developed on the site of a former elementary school that is located just north of the Eudora interchange on Kansas Highway 10.

If you are familiar with the center, the bank’s location will be at the corner of 15th and Church Street, which is basically the main entrance to the center. The development has about a half-dozen other commercial lots available for sale, with a couple of the lots large enough to accommodate multiple tenants.

photo by: City of Eudora

A schematic for future development of the Nottingham Center in Eudora is shown. Plans for a new Mid America Bank branch would be on lot 4 in the development.

The project also is slated to have a “village green” component that would include 1.5 acres of manicured lawn space, an events gazebo, a curbside area for food trucks and an area set aside for a farmers’ market. Construction work is underway on that amenity, and likely will be completed by the end of the year, Eudora City Manager Barack Matite said.

Matite said the bank deal is likely just the first of several announcements to come, both on the commercial and residential front.

“There has definitely been an uptick since the Panasonic announcement,” Matite said.

Matite said everything from fast-service food businesses to other types of retailers and service businesses are projecting significant housing growth in Eudora, which has sparked their interest in the community. He said there are some businesses with locations in Lawrence that are looking to expand to the market. The Nottingham project in recent months did have one deal fall through. Plans for an entertainment center that would feature bowling, miniature golf, batting cages and other amenities ultimately was unable to secure financing. The city has put back up for sale the lot the business previously had agreed to purchase. That’s the largest lot in the center, and Matite said it was drawing interest from several businesses. He couldn’t identify potential tenants for that lot or others due to negotiations that are still underway.

Matite said he expected plans to be filed for some larger housing development soon. He said his office has been fielding calls from local and regional developers but several from out of state as well.

“We know some of them are talking to private landowners because we have helped make those connections,” Matite said. “Once they get the property secured, we expect to see plans filed.”

He said Eudora officials also were proactively reaching out to some developers to help them understand the different types of housing likely to be needed in the community, ranging from single-family to multifamily development with a particular emphasis on workforce housing that can provide options for the Panasonic workers and others. Suppliers for the plant are expected to employ about 4,000 additional people — over and above the 4,000 employees at the Panasonic plant — Kansas officials have said.

As for the bank project, when completed, the Eudora branch will be the fifth location for Mid America Bank. It got its start in 1995 when it opened its headquarters in Baldwin City. It has since added locations in Lawrence, Wellsville and Gardner.

Hill said the Eudora location has been in the bank’s plans for several years because Mid America wants to have a location in each of the three largest communities in Douglas County. When the Eudora project is completed, Mid America will be the only bank with a Douglas County headquarters to also have a bank branch in the three largest communities in the county.

“We really want to be the main, locally owned Douglas County bank,” Hill said.

Hill said Mid America Bank has about $340 million in loans in its portfolio and services about $800 million worth of loans. Hill said he expected Eudora development to help grow those numbers in the near future.

“We are looking for a lot of residential growth and some commercial growth over there as well,” Hill said. “It looks like residential will keep going to the south and maybe a little bit to the west. We want to get over there and serve our customers.”

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While a Panasonic-type project isn’t in the works, keep an eye out for potential industrial development at the intersection of U.S. Highway 59 and U.S. Highway 56, often known as Baldwin Junction, in southern Douglas County.

Plans have been filed with the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department to rezone about 15 acres near the southeast corner of the intersection to allow for light industrial uses. The property, located at 280 East 1260 Road, currently is zoned for commercial use, according to the county’s website.

Plans filed with the planning office don’t provide a lot of detail about what is planned for the site. The application states the rezoning request is to allow for shipping container storage on the site. Once the property is rezoned, however, it could be used to accommodate any number of light industrial uses, such as warehousing and some manufacturing uses.

The rezoning request is made by 3G Properties and Wise Storage LLC. 3G appears to be a Baldwin City-based entity, while Wise Storage appears to be based in Wellsville. I reached out to a representative of 3G for more details, but haven’t yet heard back.