OLATHE COMMUNITY GARDEN MOVES AS $116.5 MILLION HEALTH PROJECT RESHAPES SUNSET CAMPUS

October 11, 2026

A longtime community garden that has supplied thousands of pounds of fresh produce to Johnson County nutrition programs is spending two growing seasons in a temporary home as one of the county’s largest construction projects transforms the Sunset Drive campus in Olathe.

The Sunset Community Garden, formerly known as the WIC Garden, has been temporarily relocated from its quarter-acre site at 11875 S. Sunset Drive for the 2026 and 2027 growing seasons.

Raised beds are being used near the Dennis Patton Garden Gallery at 11811 S. Sunset Drive, allowing volunteers to continue growing produce for Johnson County health and food-assistance programs.

The move is tied to construction of Johnson County’s new $116.5 million Health Services Building, a 140,000-square-foot facility being built on the county-owned Sunset Drive campus near 119th Street and Ridgeview Road.

The project will consolidate services now spread among several buildings, bringing much of the Johnson County Mental Health Center, Department of Health and Environment and portions of Aging and Human Services under one roof.

Services planned for the new building include adult and children’s mental health programs, emergency mental health services, pharmacy services, the county’s walk-in health clinic, WIC services, community health programs, environmental health and child care licensing. A commercial kitchen will also support Aging and Human Services nutrition programs.

The county originally authorized about $113.5 million for the project. Commissioners later added about $3.07 million for rooftop solar panels and a water-reclamation system, bringing the total authorization to no more than $116.524 million.

Construction began in 2025 and is now well underway.

The county’s current schedule calls for the first phase of employees and services to move into the building in February 2027. That phase includes Health and Environment programs and the Aging and Human Services kitchen.

Mental Health services, environmental health and child care licensing are expected to follow later in 2027, with the overall project scheduled for completion in September.

The existing Health Services Building at 11875 S. Sunset Drive will remain open during construction. After services move into the new facility, the old building is scheduled to be demolished so parking and remaining site work can be completed.

The county’s Olathe Mental Health office also is slated for demolition after its services relocate.

For the community garden, the disruption is temporary.

K-State Research and Extension says reconstruction of the permanent garden is expected to begin in summer 2027. Plans call for upgraded infrastructure intended to increase both food production and educational opportunities when the garden reopens in 2028.

The garden has occupied the Sunset campus since 2013 and is managed by Johnson County K-State Research and Extension in partnership with the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment. A Giving Grove orchard is also part of the site.

Volunteers plant, maintain and harvest the garden, with produce supplied to county nutrition and food-assistance programs.

In 2024 alone, the garden harvested 4,420 pounds of fruits and vegetables, equal to more than 12,300 servings.

The temporary raised-bed garden will allow that work to continue while the larger Sunset campus redevelopment moves toward completion.

The new Health Services Building also is designed to be LEED-certified. County officials say rooftop solar panels will cover roughly 70% of the roof and are expected to produce nearly all of the building’s electrical demand, while a rainwater reclamation system will reduce the amount of fresh water used inside the facility.

For a garden built around growing food for others, the next two years will look different — but county and Extension officials are planning for it to return to Sunset Drive with a larger role once construction is complete.