The Overland Park City Council unanimously approved plans Monday for a new Black & Veatch world headquarters and the mixed-use development that will surround it, clearing the way for construction to begin this fall near College Boulevard and Metcalf. The global engineering and construction firm expects to move employees into the new nine-story building by 2029.
The council's vote covers both the headquarters tower and the broader redevelopment wrapped around it, according to KCTV. Black & Veatch, which the station describes as a global construction and engineering company, has a longstanding presence in Overland Park and the greater Kansas City area, and the new headquarters is planned in the College Boulevard and Metcalf area. As reported by financialcontent.com, the council unanimously approved plans for the company's new World Headquarters and surrounding development, with the nine-story building designed to have capacity to substantially grow its local employee-owner workforce.
What's Actually Getting Built
Beyond the headquarters tower itself, the surrounding development is planned to include multi-family residential housing, a hotel, retail space and a daycare, per the same financialcontent.com report. Black & Veatch will serve as master developer on the project, with JE Dunn as general contractor, BNIM as designer and Clayco as development manager — a team also confirmed by enr.com, which reported JE Dunn would serve as general contractor for the headquarters with BNIM as designer.
An earlier proposal included 700 multifamily units and 88 townhomes. The existing headquarters was expanded to about 600,000 square feet.
Billion-Dollar Price Tag, Depending Who You Ask
The overall cost of the redevelopment has been reported differently across outlets. KSHB has called it a $1.3 billion development project, while ENR has described Black & Veatch's mixed-use headquarters as a $1.34 billion undertaking. An earlier account from Johnson County Post pegged the same redevelopment, at that stage officially dubbed Overland Park Park II and located at 11401 Lamar Ave., as a $1.1 billion project.
The site's footprint has also been described inconsistently. Johnson County Post has reported the redevelopment centers around the firm's 22-acre headquarters property at 11401 Lamar Ave., while enr.com has described the current headquarters as located on 33 acres. Similarly, accounts differ on whether the plan includes public green space: KSHB has described the project as adding housing, retail shops and a community park, while Johnson County Post has reported that a revised plan set the green space aside for private use rather than public access.
Timeline and Incentives
KSHB reports Black & Veatch expects to break ground on the project this fall with an expected move-in date of 2029, while enr.com notes the multi-use portion of the development is expected to take 10 years to complete. Johnson County Post has cited a request for $267.6 million in public financing incentives. KSHB, meanwhile, has reported about $800 million in tax incentives tied to the project, including $550 million in revenue bonds linked to construction equipment sales-tax exemptions and $250 million in revenue bonds to help finance construction costs.
A Company Rooted in Overland Park
Company and city leaders framed the vote as a milestone for both Black & Veatch and the surrounding corridor. Mario Azar said the new world headquarters represents an investment in the next chapter of Black & Veatch, according to financialcontent.com, which also reported the firm has been headquartered in Overland Park for the last 50 years and has had a presence in the greater Kansas City region for more than a century. Curt Skoog said Black & Veatch has been an integral part of the Overland Park community for decades, per the same report, adding that the headquarters development represents a major milestone in Overland Park's vision for the College Boulevard corridor and supports community success, innovation and economic growth.
The project is part of a broader building wave along the corridor. The Kansas City Business Journal has reported that projects along College Boulevard in Overland Park now total $1.9 billion, and KSHB has described the Black & Veatch redevelopment as intended to transform the College Boulevard corridor as a whole. With council approval now secured, the next milestone will be the groundbreaking ceremony Black & Veatch expects later this fall.
