The half-mile of Mission Road between the municipal campus and 83rd Street is changing in three ways this fall. A new Prairie Village City Hall is under construction. Johnson County Library is studying whether to move the Corinth branch a few blocks north. Across the 83rd Street corner, restaurants at Corinth Square and Corinth Quarter are opening and closing.
The three changes are moving at very different speeds. The City Hall is approved, financed and being built. The restaurant changes depend on individual leases. The library is the one most residents walk into every week, and it is the only one still undecided. The study period has a set end date, and there are standing ways to comment before it closes.
The building that's already settled
Construction on the new City Hall began this summer. KCTV reported in July that the City Council approved $27 million in municipal bonds on a 9-2 vote. With about $23 million in expected interest, the total comes to roughly $50 million. Opponents pointed to an added cost of about $115 per household each year for 30 years. Mayor Eric Mikkelson told KCTV that last November's council election, in which all six candidates who backed the project won, showed the community supported it. City and project officials hope to open the building by 2028.
The new building is going up just south of the current City Hall. That location matters for the library question. Once the city's offices move into the new building, the land in front of the old one becomes a site the city could offer for something else.
The library is the open question
Corinth Library opened in February 1963. It was expanded in 1967 and renovated in 1986 and 2002. It is now the oldest building in the Johnson County Library system, and the library's project page says it has been heavily used for decades, "especially for its kids' collection." The Library Board made replacing it the library's next capital project in 2024, after comparing renovation and replacement costs. The library ruled out renovation because of uncertain foundation and groundwater problems, structural retrofits, and the need for a third floor and structured parking.
The library has tried to move once before. The city, the library and the YMCA of Greater Kansas City developed a plan to put a new branch next to a new community center at the former Paul Henson YMCA site near 79th and Mission. As the Johnson County Post reported, the city council dropped that plan in October 2024 when the YMCA declined to help pay for the community center.
The current proposal puts the branch on the municipal campus. On October 9, the city posted that both the City Council and the Library Board had approved a memorandum of understanding to study a new Corinth branch at 7720 Mission Road. The library's early "test fit" puts a building of about 30,000 square feet facing Mission Road in front of the current City Hall. That is where the small community center and the basketball courts stand today. The concept includes:
- A drive-thru lane
- A 20,000-square-foot first floor
- An 11,000-square-foot second floor with a possible green roof
- A lower-level parking garage
The agreement does not commit either side to building anything. Over the study period, the city and the library will look at shared parking, possible amenities and maintenance, land purchase terms, easements, and survey, environmental, groundwater and soil studies. An appraisal would set the value of any land sale. The agreement runs 180 days and expires on its own at the end of that period. Counting from early October, the study runs into spring 2027. At that point, the council and the Library Board could vote on a development agreement that would commit both to the project.
The library is also still considering its current site. The board owns the building and parking lot at 81st and Mission and says test fits show a branch of about 30,000 square feet, with improved parking and a drive-thru, would work on either site. If the board chooses the new site, the existing branch could stay open during construction.
| Current site | Municipal campus | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 8100 Mission Road | 7720 Mission Road |
| What's there now | The 1963 Corinth branch and its lot | Community center building and basketball courts |
| Fits a ~30,000 sq ft branch with drive-thru? | Yes, per library test fits | Yes, per library test fits |
| Branch open during construction? | Not stated | Could remain open, per the library |
| Status | Owned by the Library Board, still under consideration | Under a 180-day non-binding study |
The library says the project will be paid for through the existing mill levy that funds its 2015 Comprehensive Library Master Plan. The Library Board and the Board of County Commissioners approved the funding in fall 2025 as part of the 2026 Capital Improvement Plan. About half would come from library reserves and the rest from county bonds.
When the library decides, and how to comment
The library expects the board to choose a location in the second half of 2026. After that, it will hire an architect through a request for proposals, and design work is expected to start in 2027. The construction schedule is still unknown. The library says it will invite public input during design. For now, the project page lists three ways to comment:
- Library staff, through the library's contact form or by phone at (913) 826-4600
- An email to the Library Board, which goes into the next meeting's board packet
- Public comment at the start of a Library Board meeting. Meetings are held at 4 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at Central Resource Library in Overland Park. The next two fall on November 12 and December 10.
At 83rd Street, leases set the timing
The other end of this stretch changes for a different reason. Neither the city nor the library has a role in it. The timing depends on when leases expire and whether landlord and tenant agree on new terms.
Va Bene Italian Eatery, open at Corinth Square since 2020, closed at the end of July. The Johnson County Post reported that the restaurant could not agree on a new lease with the center's owners. KCTV reported that some of its most popular scratch pasta dishes moved to Louie's Wine Dive and Gram & Dun on the Plaza, and that most of its staff moved to other VinZant restaurants.
Across 83rd Street, Corinth Quarter has been filling in. First Washington planned the center on the former Corinth Square South site. Its first phase was finished in 2021, and a second round of facade updates, plus 17 more parking spaces, was approved in May 2024. The 2026 additions sit within a few doors of each other on the same block:
- Brookside Barkery opened at 3935 W. 83rd St. in July.
- Flower Child opened at 3915 W. 83rd St. in August and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- La Fetta, the locally owned Italian deli from owner Adam Bracco, is coming to 3945 W. 83rd St. Its first shop is in southern Overland Park. In late September, Bracco told The Pitch he was aiming for mid-October. In June, the Johnson County Post placed it near the long-standing Panera Bread and Club Pilates.
Each of these changes is a single business decision. None of them needed a council vote, and none comes with a public comment period.
Where the stretch comes together this season
The next two city events fall on either end of this stretch of Mission Road. The Arts Council holds a gallery reception at the current City Hall on November 18, from 7 to 8 p.m. That is the same campus the library is studying. On December 3, the city's Holiday Tree Lighting is at Corinth Square at 4050 W. 83rd St., from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
A week after the tree lighting, the Library Board meets on December 10. By then, the 180-day study will be about two months in.
For more on the rest of the city, see our look at the Shops of Prairie Village's summer turnover and the story of Meadowbrook Park. Our Prairie Village neighborhood page has more on the area.
A new City Hall, a possible new library and a changing Corinth corner will all affect what the blocks along Mission Road are like to live near. At Bash KC, we follow these projects closely. If you'd like to know how they could affect the value of your Prairie Village home, request your personalized home valuation.
