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MISSION, Kan. — A local developer is one step closer to converting vacant office space in southeast Mission into new apartments. 

Wednesday, the Mission City Council voted 7-1 to approve a rezoning request and preliminary development plan to create an apartment complex at the southwest corner of 58th Street and Nall Avenue. 

Developer John Moffit, of the Overland Park-based real estate group Moffit and Associates, said he feels the project would help fill a need for attainable housing in Mission. 

“We are going to take an office site, that is just people that come and go and have no ownership in the neighborhood. We are going to create a community within a community that will use all the services, all the shops, everything up and down Johnson Drive,” Moffit said. 

The 1.4-acre site includes the former Sunflower Medical Group office building and three parcels to the south along Nall. Moffit intends to convert the existing office space into a 77-unit apartment complex spread across two and three-story buildings.

Aerial view of proposed site.

The proposed complex would include 10 studio apartments, 53 one-bedroom apartments and 14 two-bedroom units. Plans for the complex include amenities like a dog park, bicycle storage, a fitness center and charging stations for electric vehicles. 

The apartment complex would include roughly 25 parking garage spaces tucked underneath the buildings with an additional 58 off-street, surface parking spaces. An additional eight on-street parking spaces will also be created parallel to the complex along Nall Avenue. 

The proposed project would be within a ¼ mile of the transit station on the city’s east side. 

Councilmember Debbie Kring was the only council member to vote against the proposed project, citing concerns that the additional apartment units could put a strain on city roads and resources.

“I have to look at the bigger picture of a sustainable Mission; our sustainable economic development criteria and respect our current residents, businesses and current apartment residents,” Kring said.

Councilmember Hillary Parker Thomas said redeveloping the property would help fill a need for housing and support the shops in the downtown area.

“The need for housing in Johnson County is well documented. This is, I think, a worthy addition to existing housing stock. I will continue to really turn my attention to the existing housing stock we have and the needs for improvements for those, rather than be worried about new apartments,” Parker Thomas said.

“I look forward to the new residents that will soon be living there and adding to our tax base.”