Whole Foods is planning to build a store at 51st and Oak

• Will Marre
• Whole Foods is coming back to KC.

Even college kids eat fruit and vegetables on occasion. Either that or eating healthy is better than staying on a meal plan. The Kansas City Star reported last night that Whole Foods announced a lease on a new space at 51st Street and Oak, where it intends to build a grocery store as part of a mixed commercial and residential development. The new store, which would mark a return to Kansas City for the Austin-based supermarket chain, would be 30,000 square feet. The franchise’s store at 4301 Main — a Wild Oats location acquired in a 2007 deal — closed in 2010. Nature’s Own Health Market, the current tenant, opened in the space later that year.

The return of Whole Foods marks the continued migration of Austin franchises to Kansas City with Freebirds World Burrito locating in Westport (and opening its Mission restaurant two weeks ago) and the Alamo Drafthouse opening downtown earlier this month in the former AMC Mainstreet Theater. Whole Foods has two locations in Overland Park.