For as long as anyone around there can remember, a large field at College Boulevard and Ridgeview Road in northwestern Olathe has remained mostly undeveloped.
Even as developments sprouted up around it, including sports bars, shops, hotels and the Garmin Olathe Soccer Complex, the 165-acre field has remained empty.
That’s about to change in a big way.
By 2030, that site will be home to the Kansas City Chiefs’ new $300 million team headquarters and training facility, part of the franchise’s broader move to Kansas that includes a $3 billion stadium in KCK.
In December, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, along with Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt, announced that move. Moving the plan forward, the Olathe City Council approved the team’s use of local tax incentives in February.
Financing for the development in Olathe, which will include a surrounding entertainment district, has been controversial, and questions remain about what a new team facility will do to traffic in the area, which can already be challenging on match-filled weekends at the soccer complex.
Still, businesses, residents and Garmin patrons in that area of Olathe who spoke with the Post in recent weeks nearly universally expressed excitement for the project, saying it will bring increased attention and revenue to their neighborhood.
Here’s what they had to say:
'Good for business'
Local restaurant and bar owners are excited about the potential new business that will come with the development.
Charlie Janssen is one of the managers at The Rub Bar-B-Que, just a few blocks from the site. He’s worked there for 10 years, but his dad is the owner, so he’s been coming around the area for much longer than that. He’s no stranger to a new development in the neighborhood.
“This area’s changed dramatically,” he said. “When we first moved in, none of the hotels were here.”
He said he’s excited for the move for a couple of reasons. As a Chiefs fan, he’s looking forward to being close to the action. As a restaurant manager, he sees this as an opportunity to bring in more customers.
“I think it’ll be good for business,” he said. “Especially during training camp when people are coming to watch them practice.”
A few doors down, Brian Clyne, the director of operations for all Minsky’s Pizza restaurants in Kansas, also predicts an influx of customers.
He’s at that Olathe location several times a week and is “ecstatic” about the announcement.
“Where the Chiefs are going is a big open field that’s been a big open field for 25 years,” he said. “So any kind of development in this area is good for business, good for Minsky’s.”
And while it’ll be five years until the project is complete, Clyne believes a boost in business will come a lot sooner than that.
“If you look at construction and you look at the people that are going to be brought in to make this project happen, it’s going to be a lot less [time] than that,” he said. “It could be next year.”
Decked out in a Chiefs hoodie for work, Cody Daldauf has been a server at Johnny’s Tavern for six years. At his job, surrounded by Chiefs fans and TVs tuned in to the latest game, he fits right in.
“I’ve been going to games since I was five years old,” the now 22-year-old said. “I’ve been to the fall camp before the season a couple times.”
He noted that game days, especially when the Chiefs aren’t playing at home, are already busy.
“In an away game, it’s rush, rush, rush,” he said.
Like Janssen and Clyne, he expects even more patronage when the Chiefs’ move is complete.
“People are going to want to check it out from all over the world because we’re such a staple now, because we are champions,” he said. “I think it’s going to be great.”
There’s one person in particular he’d love to see come to Johnny’s.
“I personally would like to see Travis Kelce,” he said, the miniature statue of Taylor Swift’s fiancé standing nearby. “Because then you have the Swifties who are behind him, as well.”
He can always dream, though it’s unlikely Kelce will still be on the team (or playing professional football) by the time the new Chiefs’ facility opens in 2030.
A neighborhood upgrade
Across the restaurant are a couple of guys who have been Chiefs fans longer than Kelce has been alive.
“I’ve been a Chiefs fan since the mid-’60s,” said Olathe resident Lee Dehon. “Quite some time.”
Sitting next to him is a friend, fellow Olathe resident and longtime Chiefs fan, Rex Henick.
“I went to a Chiefs game back in the ’60s where it rained so hard they set the NFL record for most fumbles in a game,” Henick said.
When it comes to the Chiefs’ move, the men are excited to have the team closer to home.
“It would be nice to go and say, ‘Hey, I live not too far from where the Chiefs practice,’” Dehon said.
They agreed that it will be beneficial to western Olathe, in general.
“I think it’s going to bring some money to the area,” Dehon said.
For over 20 years, James Rayhawk of Olathe has lived about a mile from the empty field. So when he heard about the development, he also got excited.
“I’m hopeful that this little area here will get more restaurants and lots more stuff,” he said.
While there are some restaurants in the area — Rayhawk just finished his meal at The Rub — he’s optimistic that even more will come.
So is Ardy Dehdasht, who says he’s at the Garmin Olathe Soccer Complex nearby three to four times a week to watch his son Beckham play soccer.
Dehdasht, who also lives close to the future site in neighboring Lenexa, said he loves the idea of the Chiefs’ headquarters and training facility being close by.
He said he’s excited for “the entertainment district and to have some more fresh businesses in the area.”
Concerns over traffic and construction
With new business and development in the area comes the biggest concern that businesses and nearby residents had: traffic.
Like Dehdasht, Magaly Rodriguez goes to the Garmin soccer complex almost every day for her son Adrian’s practice and games.
She’s a Chiefs fan and was initially excited about the move. As she thought about it more, however, she’s grown concerned about what the development will mean for traffic congestion.
“We already have a lot of traffic here coming out of the highway,” she said of Kansas Highway 10, just to the north of Garmin and the Chiefs’ planned future practice facility. “And when it’s game time, there’s a lot of parents.”
Rodriguez, who lives in Olathe just a few minutes away, also worries about the construction’s impact on the area, including potential road closures and detours.
“That will be chaos, in my opinion,” she said.
Janssen from The Rub and Daldauf from Johnny’s both suggested some infrastructure changes could help ease traffic congestion.
“I guess that’ll come down to the city government, the state government, maybe expanding roads, making sure there’s plenty of parking for stuff like that,” Janssen said.
Even with traffic and construction, most agreed that the pros outweigh the cons.
“I could see it being an issue,” Janssen said. “But currently, I think it’s going to be more of a benefit for all the businesses in the area than it will be an issue.”
Overall, Rayhawk is happy his team will be close by.
“I don’t see it being anything crazy as far as traffic or anything like that,” Rayhawk said. “I just see net positive.”
This story was originally published by the Johnson County Post.
