PARK CITY, Kan. (KSNW) – A half-billion-dollar development is coming to Park City.
On Friday, developers broke ground on the “Champtown” project on the west side of Interstate 135. This development is between 53rd Street and 61st Street.
It will bring stores, restaurants, an aquarium, a Ferris wheel, a hotel, and an outdoor and indoor sports complex, things local leaders say the Park City community needs.
Work is already underway on the 160-acre site in Park City.
“It’s been over three years of planning and getting the ground ready and infrastructure in place so that this project gets to today,” Park City Mayor John Lehnherr said.
Previously: Park City getting stores, aquarium, and butterflies
The city council has requested STAR bonds to help fund the proposal. Future sales tax charged within the area would pay back the bonds used to build it. STAR bonds are meant to promote tourism and boost economic development, but the Kansas Department of Commerce has not yet signed off on the deal.
“The economic development is obviously not just great for Park City, but it’s also great for Sedgwick County, south-central Kansas and honestly for all of Kansas,” Lehnherr said.
One of the key tourism elements is a 78,000-square-foot multi-level aquarium that hopes to open in 2026. It would also have an educational rainforest-inspired butterfly conservatory.
“Park City has been underserved for quite some time while the access and visibility from the highway and just the traffic count, it’s been overlooked here for some time,” Rachel Lange-Mills, president of Lange Real Estate, said.
The Kansas Department of Commerce says it has given a preliminary finding of eligibility but has not approved the STAR bond yet. Lange Real Estate says the first stage for this development is the baseball fields, which are not reliant on STAR bond funds. They hope to have the fields ready to go by next summer.
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