ShawneeDispatch.com

Despite some “rough and rocky” spots, Shawnee’s growth of the past decade appears set to continue, Mark Mollentine told city and business leaders gathered for the annual Downtown Breakfast.

Remarks by Mollentine, chairman of the Shawnee Downtown Partnership, headlined the breakfast, which took place Thursday at Shawnee Town Hall.

Mollentine also asked attendees to jot down ideas for downtown before they embarked on tours of the adjacent Shawnee Town 1929 Truck Farm, one of downtown’s biggest new additions this year.

Mollentine highlighted the city’s 10-year growth, citing census data that showed a 29.6 percent population increase that made Shawnee the seventh-largest city in Kansas.

The city added 5,650 housing units since the last census — the largest 10-year increase in city history, he said. According to numbers from city staff, 30 percent of the population is younger than 18, 15 percent is older than 62 and the largest five-year age grouping is 5- to 9-year-olds.

“The city is just poised in a beautiful way for future growth,” Mollentine said.

Mollentine formerly owned the Governor’s Meeting House at 10910 W. 60th St. Since closing the restaurant, he has turned the building into a manufacturing facility for his latest culinary creations, Chef Mark Alan Sauces and Seasonings.

Consistency and continuity are hallmarks of downtown Shawnee, Mollentine said.

Business, community and city government working together has created a number of successful efforts and events. Of course there have been ups and downs, Mollentine said, but “we’re hitting nine out of 10 on those things.”

Downtown Shawnee may not have anything like Worlds of Fun or the Kansas Speedway. But more so than some similar suburbs, Mollentine said, Shawnee has many locally owned businesses that have been up and running 30 years or more.

“We don’t have those big, grand things,” he said. “But we have lots of smaller things that matter a lot to a lot of people.”

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