Gardner Planners Approve Rezone Request For $1.55B Entertainment Campus

By Will Crow

The Gardner Planning Commission approved Velocity Arts LLC’s rezone request of 214.5 acres off Interstate 35 for its proposed entertainment campus. Photo credit: Populous.

Posted August 27, 2026

The Gardner City Planning Commission has approved plans for a $1.55 billion mixed-use campus in Gardner, Kansas.

The project developer, Velocity Arts LLC, plans to build a 214-acre entertainment campus located along the I-35 corridor near 175th Street. On Tuesday, the Gardner City Planning Commission approved a rezone request to change the previous zoning from rural, agricultural and single-family to mixed-use. Last week, the Gardner City Council reviewed the memorandum for the project.

Rendering of performance arts building in the entertainment campus. Photo credit: Populous.

The development consists of multiple entertainment venues with year-round events, commercial uses, a hotel and villas, and a for-profit college with dormitories, according to city documents. Velocity Arts said the campus will have approximately 2.5 million gross square feet of building area.

The development will consist of nine districts:

  • District 1 – a majority of the commercial uses arranged along a “Main Street” with on-street parking, a 2,500-seat performing arts center, a covered outdoor plaza with commercial uses on 2-3 sides, a 750-vehicle parking structure, and more than 2,500 surface parking spaces
  • District 2 – a 15,000-seat indoor/outdoor concert pavilion, commercial uses, a 500-vehicle parking structure, and surface parking
  • District 3 – a 10-acre recreational lagoon with associated clubhouses and 600+ surface parking spaces
  • Districts 4 and 5 – vacation villas consisting of 4 units per building, with each unit containing 2-3 bedrooms
  • District 6 – a 5-story, 300-key hotel and surface parking
  • District 7 – for-profit college uses, including a 3-story, 300-bed dormitory and surface parking
  • District 8 – a 6,000-seat Esports arena and surface parking
  • District 9 – campus operations and maintenance uses

Rendering of the 10-acre lagoon area. Photo credit: Populous.

Populous is the master planner & designer, McCownGordon is the construction manager and Kimley-Horn will serve as the civil engineer for the project.

Gardner City Council will now review the rezone request at its next meeting on September 21.