Downtown Market Plaza being built in Lee’s Summit

The City of Lee’s Summit is moving forward with a more than 10-year plan to enhance its farmers market.

The city broke ground earlier in 2024 on a Downtown Market Plaza . It will be “park-like” according to Mayor Bill Baird. There will be space for the farmers market, an outdoor performance venue, a skyscape pavilion, a restaurant, a boutique hotel and apartments.

“It's going to be intimate, it's going to be welcoming. It's going to draw you down the street with regard to just you're going to look in here and be like, I have to go down that street. I have to see what's going on,” said Mayor Baird.

The city said the money was set aside in 2013 for a farmers market. Since then, it has continued to save up while developing plans. Now, Mayor Baird said the city has $40 million set aside, with over half in cash it is putting toward the project. He said the city will also apply for grants and there will be naming sponsorship opportunities.

Nicole Perne co-owns KD Books in downtown Lee’s Summit. She said she is excited for this to potentially bring a bigger clientele to the area.

“We're hoping it brings more kind of family traffic because right now, we're kind of like one of only a couple kind of places for kids. So people come down here to shop,” said Berne. “There's a lot of bars, there's a lot of restaurants. There's not a lot of stuff, just on a day-to-day basis to like to do for family. So I think that will help kind of bring in that crowd.”

Perne did have concerns about parking. When asked, the city said it did traffic studies and determined extra parking wasn’t necessary. The Downtown Market Plaza is being built next to the parking garage by City Hall.

The project is expected to be completed in 2025.