I recently stayed at the Lenexa Town Center, which is under development, during a trip to Kansas City. I have some mixed feelings about the area, as while I am glad to see that a suburb like Lenexa is trying urban development, it also seems like a bit of a wasted effort in the grand scheme of things. The Kansas City metro is sorely lacking in any form of public transportation outside the downtown-plaza core, and urbanized areas far from that core or any other core don’t really make a lot of sense.

As it currently stands the area is somewhat dead. It doesn’t really have any shopping, and only a few restaurants. It’s nice that the city put the new library, city hall, and rec center in this district so at least it should attract people. Quite a few companies have also built offices here or are building, so perhaps the lack of public transit may not be a huge detriment in the future as people may not need to leave the district for work.

If Overland Park were to remove some of the sprawl and consolidate it’s business district along I-435, perhaps a train connecting Lenexa, Overland Park, and perhaps accessing into downtown would make the Kansas City a more viable car free environment.