When Shake Shack wanted to bring its “modern-day roadside burger stand” to Kansas for the first time, finding the right location was a priority.

Drake Development, a full-service commercial real estate group, found a great location at the entrance of Town Center Plaza in Leawood. Olsson found right solutions to the various site challenges of redeveloping the location.

The former restaurant building at 5200 W. 119^th St. was removed to allow a complete remake of the space. Determining how to plan the new, 3,585-square-foot building on the site was tricky because of the parcel’s proximity to a multi-tenant retail building to the west.

“We went through quite a few concepts to find the one that worked best for our clients,” said Robby Steffens, associate engineer with Olsson’s General Civil team.

We discovered that older documents associated with the property were unclear about how the building could be situated on the parcel. Our surveyors produced new documents that worked through those deficiencies.

Other field services we provided included geotechnical and materials testing. We identified a groundwater issue and recommended the installation of drain tile beneath the parking lot to address it.

We also navigated the complexities of obtaining building permits for the project. Our diligence ensured the new restaurant building was not located too close to the retail structure.

Finally, our General Civil team managed the placement of utilities and devised an option to maximize the number of parking spaces.

“There were a lot of intricacies involved with this project,” Robby said.

The new Shake Shack now greets visitors to the plaza with a sleek, retro style façade and an inviting outdoor patio. It joins the New York-based chain’s lineup of more than 230 domestic and 70 international locations.

One other thing: We made sure the entrance has a nice level sidewalk for the line of customers we knew would form outside the Shack.