New Shawnee grocery store eyeing early October opening date at rebuilt Westbrooke Shopping Center

SHAWNEE, Kan. — KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers Johnson County. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of healthcare, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse.

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El Mercado Fresco (Fresh Market of Shawnee), anchor of the new Westbrooke Green shopping center at 75th Street and Quivira Road, is eyeing an early October opening date, according to the shopping center's developer.

The developer invited KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig back to the store to check out a major sign of progress — the shelves being stocked.

Elyse Schoenig / KSHB

A viewer who lives next door to the site first told Schoenig about this place in 2024, wanting to know if anything was ever going to happen to the mostly-abandoned space.

Schoenig learned the space had sat mostly empty for more than a decade, and she has been in touch with the viewer and the shopping center's developer ever since.

The city of Shawnee first approved plans for the site's redevelopment in 2017. At the time, the city approved the use of funding in the forms of a community improvement district (CID) and tax increment financing (TIF).

The Shawnee City Council voted on a new agreement for the site's project, called Westbrooke Green, in 2024. That is when developer PJ Guastello took over the redevelopment.

Elyse Schoenig / KSHB 41

Guastello acknowledged the site's complicated history.

"It's been a long time coming," he said. "This development was in default from a previous developer. We came in, looked at the project, thought if we could get the incentives that were originally offered, that we could get it off the ground."

Guastello said El Mercado Fresco will feature a deli, bakery, fresh produce and more.

In addition to El Mercado Fresco, he also said a future liquor store, golf simulator, nail salon, restaurants and more are planned as part of the development.

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