A $65.7 million Lee's Summit apartment project is one step closer to construction, over a year and a half since city officials first approved plans and incentives.

The City Council earlier this month authorized Chapter 100 bonds for the Evren Apartments, a 358-unit complex planned by Cityscape Residential, of Carmel, Indiana. The complex will have eight four-story buildings, plus a clubhouse, pool, separate dog parks for large and small dogs and pickleball and bocce ball courts, across about 13.5 acres southwest of NW Tudor Road and NE Douglas Street, just south of Lee's Summit Municipal Court and west of Lee's Summit North High School.

The bonds will provide for incentives that Lee's Summit opted to extend to Cityscape's project close to two years ago. The City Council in November 2022 approved rezoning and preliminary plans for the apartments. That December, they agreed to 10 years of fixed payments in lieu of taxes, equating to a 27.5% abatement, and a sales tax exemption on construction materials.

Through 2023, Cityscape and Lee's Summit agreed to multiple extensions of a purchase agreement for 6.5 acres of city-owned land in the project footprint, previously contemplated for police and municipal court facilities. The developer ultimately bought the properties in December.

The Cityscape apartments had been one among a number of residential projects in Lee's Summit to receive approvals years ago, but subsequently stall, in light of construction inflation that took off in 2022, said David Bushek, the city's chief counsel of economic development and planning. As of May, at least four other apartment plans — totaling 1,155 units and $244.9 million in investment — still were pending construction after receiving different incentive approvals since 2021, city data shows.

A 2022 cost-benefit analysis for the Evren Apartments found that its incentives together were valued around $4.1 million over their 10-year lifespan. Cityscape's payments in lieu of taxes to affected jurisdictions were projected to total $7.4 million over that time, up from $18,093 if the site stayed undeveloped.

"With its strategic location and contemporary amenities, Evren Apartments promises to be a premier living destination in the area," Cityscape's website reads.

The Indiana developer's previous metro projects include Meridian at View High and Elevate 114 in Lee's Summit, the Crossroads Westside and Summit on Quality Hill apartments in Kansas City, and the Residences At Prairiefire in Overland Park.