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Developers negotiate for grocery, lumber yard

By Lisa Scheller - | Apr 7, 2004

The 24-40 corridor continues to expand.

And it’s possible that expansion will include a grocery store and a retail lumber yard.

The site under consideration, Honey Creek subdivision, is on the southwest corner of U.S. Highway 24-40 and 166th Street, six miles east of Tonganoxie and a mile west of Basehor. Locals refer to the property as “the old Tucker farm.”

Curtis Oroke said he and the other developers of Honey Creek — Troy Letourneau, Dave Freeman and Roger Morningstar — are negotiating with a grocery chain and a lumber company.

Meanwhile, crews from Miles Excavating, Basehor, are preparing the ground. The work included leveling two ponds and moving an estimated 200,000 yards of dirt, which will remain on the site. When that’s done, Steve Miles said, his crews will install 10,000 feet of sanitary sewer lines and 10,000 feet of storm sewer lines, paving the way for development.

Oroke said Honey Creek’s 72 acres will include 91 residential lots, a housing community for adults 55 and older, and 20 acres of commercial property along the road frontage.

At this point, the developers already have four or five commercial businesses secured, Oroke said.

Oroke said he expects the land to be ready for building in about 90 days.

He plans to build six to eight houses to establish the market. He anticipates cluttered and too tight. We wanted to give the option for larger houses.”

Freeman, who is also developing land along Kansas Highway 10 with Morningstar, said the group paid about $840,000 for the Honey Creek land, which averaged out to about $11,600 an acre.

They’re also getting ready to buy several other tracts in the Basehor area, which are running from $13,000 to $14,000 an acre.

Freeman noted the area’s growth.

“That racetrack’s been a wonderful thing,” he said.

Oroke agreed.

“This whole area around Basehor is just going to be a hot spot for the next four or five years,” Oroke said. “A lot of the big boys from Johnson County are looking this way because of the race track.”

He believes their land purchases near Basehor have been good investments.

“We feel real secure about it right now,” Oroke said. “I don’t think it’s a bad decision. You’re taking a chance in everything you do, but property investment is never going to go down in equity.” that the houses will run from $189,000 to $225,000. And the lots will be about 12,000 to 13,000 square feet.

“They are some pretty good-sized lots,” Oroke said. “We didn’t want to make it too