Nottingham Update

An architectural rendering of completed Nottingham Development shows shopping venues, restaurants and the village green space. Illustration courtesy City of Eudora.

Nottingham Development, the 15-acre property north and west of the K-10 entrance on Church Street, continues to approach its goal of becoming the city’s showcase gateway and a regional entertainment destination.

“From the start, we’ve seen this as a lifestyle theme development rather than your typical strip mall development,” explains Barack Matite, Eudora’s city manager. “This is for families and visitors to come in and spend a whole day with activities to do. It is more than a place where you stop by with a shopping list, get what you need and leave.” Matite envisions families spending time enjoying the development's amenities, sitting down for an ice cream or enjoying a food truck festival at Nottingham.

Already, Casey’s and Wendy’s have opened in the area, and development continues for High-5, the area’s anchor business planned as a 30,000-squarefoot venue with bowling, ax throwing, laser tag, arcades and outdoor miniature golf. The city has also set aside a public green space, currently referred to as the “Village Green,” at the development’s center. This leaves a few crucial spots to fill by the completion goal of 2024, and the City of Eudora is carefully recruiting and selecting businesses to fill those spots.

To select these businesses, the City of Eudora has signed a contract with CBRE, a global real estate investment and development firm, to act as a

Chris Newkirk is part of the Kansas City branch office of CBRE and the team working with the City of Eudora to bring businesses to the Nottingham development. We spoke with Newkirk about how he and his group are prioritizing and assessing Eudora’s needs to bring in businesses that will provide the lifestyle experience the city is looking for.

Discover Eudora (DE): For potential business projects in Nottingham, how has the concept of an entertainment district been affected by the pandemic? Chris Newkirk (CK): Initially it was challenging as there was concern about the demand of social distancing in these types of venues. Those concerns have generally waned over the past few months. So, with pent-up demand for fun, social concepts, these tenants are active again. Additionally … outdoor walkable developments, including those with drive-thru options, are palatable for those who still have safety concerns.

DE: What qualities are you looking for in a business to address specific needs and opportunities, not only for the Nottingham project, but for Eudora as a whole? How do you define a good “community fit”? CK: The first thing we do anytime we take on a new listing is to perform a void analysis. From there, we can determine which categories have “leakage” where people are leaving town to shop and then reach out to those businesses so that they can better serve Eudora while looking at the residential demographics, or tapestries, to target the right businesses. DE: What are some examples that either you or CBRE have been involved in where you’ve brokered an agreement for a business to come into a community/project that has led to a substantial improvement for the community? What are models of success for Nottingham/ Eudora to emulate? CK: Every retail development is unique, but one similar successful project is Edgewood Farms near I-29 & Barry Road in Kansas City. This particular development is anchored by Main Event, while subsequent businesses we signed include Freddy’s, Texas Roadhouse, and Discount Tire along with a large multifamily development. Another example is Crown Center in Kansas City, where we transitioned the food hall from obscure, tired restaurants to well-known local concepts such as Spin Pizza, Unforked, Burnt Ends BBQ, and La Fuente. Now, Crown Center is a popular lunch destination for visitors, residents, and employees throughout Downtown, Midtown and the Crossroads district.

DE: What should Eudora residents understand about bringing in a new business that might not otherwise be apparent? CK: Particularly being in partnership with the City of Eudora on this concept, we are only interested in concepts that make neighboring businesses thrive. We’ve had interest from a few different types of businesses who might have competitors down the street, and we have turned them down. We also want Eudora to be a destination … for people looking for restaurants and retail along K-10. We want them to think of Eudora as a place they can go where they have plenty of options.

5,000 SF

RETAIL 11,400 GLA

6,500 GLA

MICRO BREWERY/ EVENT SPACE 2 LEVELS

1ST LEVEL: 8,000,SF 2ND LEVEL: 8,000,SF

broker in bringing in the businesses that will match Nottingham Center Eudora, Kansas Eudora’s needs. SAI# 190510 11.23.2020

Matite says the city has turned down offers from establishments that would overlap with existing Eudora businesses.

“What we see for Nottingham are businesses that wouldn’t compete against what we already have in the market. There might be some overlap in the industry of fast casual restaurants, but even those will be different,” says Matite. “Nottingham is the gateway to our community. It should be what we want our community to represent. It will be the first thing that visitors will see, so we want to have the right mix of tenants … we want to be intentional and make sure that this is an attractive development and will continue to be a good representation of the community for the future.”

Discover Eudora | Spring/Summer ’22

STAGE

FOUNTAIN

VILLAGE GREEN 230’X90’

FARMERS MARKET

FOOD TRUCKS (4)

SCULPTURE

The city’s Nottingham Guidelines & Conceptual Site Plan lists 9 guiding principles for the development.

Facilitate economic growth Promote sustainable development Promote compatible growth Create a community destination Project a positive image of Eudora Promote quality development Promote multimodal transportation connectivity Preserve open space and recreation amenities Improve community aesthetics

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