After more than five years of preparations, a $245 million sports-anchored development appears poised to take the field in Lee’s Summit, in more ways than one.

Workers are winding down mass grading after moving more than 800,000 cubic yards of dirt at the future site of Paragon Star, which contemplates 10 multisport artificial turf fields and a large entertainment village on 190 acres northeast of Interstate 470 and View High Drive.

Significant stormwater and sanitary sewer infrastructure work also has taken place, with two new bridges built across the Little Blue River, funded through previously issued transportation development district bonds, said Bill Brown, president of Spectrum Strategies LLC, who is spearheading Paragon Star with master developer Phillip “Flip” Short.

Pending city approval of $30.5 million in tax increment financing bonds this fall, the development team anticipates completing Paragon Star’s $16.5 million sports complex and associated facilities, such as bleachers and concession areas, by August 2022. A grand opening for the fields could follow in September 2022.

Although a seemingly fast turnaround, Brown told the Kansas City Business Journal that the mass grading completed to date constitutes about 50% of work on the fields themselves. With a final development plan for the sports complex already approved, remaining field work can proceed once an ongoing request-for-proposals for a builder is completed.