KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers Johnson County. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of health care, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse.
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A surge in apartment developments in Mission is prompting questions from residents and business owners about the city's future and the impact on rent prices.
Data from a local real estate group estimates Johnson County made up 40 percent of the Kansas City metro’s apartment completions in 2025.
I sat down with Mission City Council President Ben Chociej to ask him questions from residents about these developments and learn how this fits with the future of Mission. Chociej talks about the surge in apartment developments with excitement.
"We're a fully built-out city that's largely single-family homes, but what's nice about Mission is we have the Johnson Drive corridor," Chociej told me. "We have a lot of space that's kind of ripe for development."
Residents and business owners shared their thoughts on the influx of new housing.
"We want to welcome everybody here in Mission and make sure that they can live here and bring their families," Lauren Doughty said.
"You are offering a lot of apartments? That should make the prices go down," Ghassan Alhmood said.
Earlier this week, I reported on a University of Minnesota study showing that new apartments slightly lower the rent of high-end apartments, but increase lower-priced rentals.
I also asked Chociej about one development in particular: the long-stalled Mission Gateway site. Residents frequently complain about the site, calling it the elephant in the room.
"Sometimes it does. But I understand why people are curious about it," Chociej said.
Chociej said all the current council can do right now is wait out the court case and look forward to future developments.
Meanwhile, business owners like Alhmood are happy to know their development concerns are being heard.
"I don’t know what to do, but something has to be done," Alhmood said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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