City Hall Redevelopment

Request for Qualifications and Proposals (RFQ/P) from Prime Developers

Over the past ten years, the City has worked through an iterative public planning and study process to get to where we are today. The City is now ready to begin the process of identifying a private development partner to guide the community through an evaluation of options to reimagine the future of the southwest corner of 47th & Rainbow Blvd. 

In the Summer of 2024, the Mayor established an RFQ/P review committee and City staff issued the RFP/Q document publicly. Over the course of the last half of 2024, this RFQ/P review committee reviewed, interviewed, and - in November 2024 - identified two finalists to recommend to City Council. Since that time, The University of Kansas Health System has reviewing the recommendation of the RFQ/P review committee. At this time, the two finalist prime developer teams have submitted initial terms of offers to partner with the City through a predevelopment agreement to evaluate the site(s), community desires as set out in the last ten years of community planning, market dynamics, and resource availability. 

The RFQ/P for a Prime Developer for 4700 Rainbow Blvd. is available via this link.

The review committee will have the following representation:

To view the January 11, 2024 staff report seeking direction from the Governing Body to pursue this strategic objective, click here. 

To view the May 9, 2024 City Council meeting work session presentation guiding discussion on this strategic objective, click here.

Background 

From the mid 1970s through the mid 2010s (about a 40-year period), the City of Westwood saw population decline. 

From the late 1970s through the 1980s, the City - through the Westwood Foundation - pieced together (as parcels came available) over several years the purchase of multiple properties where the current City Hall sits. These properties included: 

  • a Phillips service station, 

  • a car mechanic shop, 

  • two houses used as offices, and 

  • three houses occupied by residents. 

Financing of the site acquisition, design, and construction of the existing City Hall was accomplished through the Westwood Foundation, which Foundation was funded at the time entirely through investment and rental income from the Woodside Club and what remained of the Foundation's seed money: a payment in lieu of taxes from United Telecom (which occupied the now University of Kansas Health Systems Westwood Campus located at Shawnee Mission Parkway & Rainbow). The building was paid for with Foundation funds, which avoided city debt and protected the City’s budget. In Fall 1990, City Hall was opened for City business and staff.

Although 40 years ago the Westwood Foundation financed the capital outlay costs for City Hall, no strategy for adequately covering operations and maintenance costs was created. Around 2015 - when the building was already about 25 years old and the City began to see repopulation and reinvestment - private developers began approaching the City with interest in redeveloping the City Hall, site citing a strong market for commercial uses on the corner of 47th & Rainbow. 

It was at this time the City embarked on an iterative process to reevaluate its opportunities to secure a strong future. Read more about that 10-year study and planning process by clicking this link. 

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