urbanSTL

^Yes, quite a few DCs in KC/STL already but not massive ones targeting FAANG companies and big 3 cloud providers.   KC has an AWS Direct Connect node  (11th/Grand) and many Amazon warehouses but no AWS DCs yet in KC or STL.   AWS doesn't have any 'regions' between OH and W Coast  so could see them possibly establishing a new one out of this complex.  Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure also have catching up to do with AWS so could see them considering this complex too at some point.

There are only a few DCs in world over 6M sqft, though there could be more by the time this is built.

KC Streetcar - North Kansas City Extension

These renderings popped up online recently.

Some good news regarding Kansas City’s air service. From the airport’s Director, Air Canada will ‘finally’ upgage it’s Kansas City - Toronto flight from the CRJ-200 to the larger CRJ-900 (which has a business class and PTVs). However, on Air Canada’s booking portal, it only showed the upgrade during the summer months. I’m not sure if the rest of the year hasn’t been loaded yet (AC is usually slow to upload changes), its merely a seasonal upgrade or if they’re waiting until COVID blows over. Regardless, I’ve been waiting for this for years. Hopefully the CRJ9 will eventually be here to stay.
This is the first time in Air Canada has upgraded the flight in its 23 year service history at Kansas City. St Louis received the upgrade earlier this year and both cities tend to follow each other when airlines boost service.

New plans have been filed for the 3rd and Grand lot.

Review of Mixed Use, Transit Oriented Development Project. Scope includes approximately 210 multi-family dwelling units, 90 room hotel, a few thousand sf of retail, multi-modal bus stop. May include up to 24,000 sf of office.
Project Name: 3G Development
Estimated Value: $65,000,000.00
Anticipated Construction Date: 02/01/2021
Anticipated Completion Date: 05/02/2022

Langosta on KCRag said this in regard to the 13th and Wyandotte office building...

Project financing and other documents approved for the office tower

So I guess that means the project will start fairly soon. Renderings below for those not sure what project this is.

This project is connected to the greater development of most of the block by Platform Ventures. Their redevelopment of the Kansas City Club building into Hotel Kansas City (Hyatt Unbound Collection) is ongoing. Hotel Kansas City is supposed to open August 27th with job openings starting to be available. The old Muehlebach Hotel redevelopment into apartments doesn't seem to be going any where right now but we will probably hear more on that later this year. This 3 phase project will help fill out and activate the entire city block bounded by 13th, Wyandotte, 12th, and Baltimore. The Marriott's second building and the Holiday Inn/Aladdin Hotel have provided some activation here but this project by Platform Ventures will make it more activated.

Being across from Barney Allis Plaza is a good thing too. The office building will be the most visible portion of the project. Too bad BAP isn't being fixed up. It could really become a top notch meeting place in Downtown.

According to Trip Advisor, the Holiday Inn/Aladdin is closed until December 30th

1. KC Streetcar Extension to UMKC:

FTA approved the advance to the engineering phase(funding already approved for that). Federal CIG grant is expected early next year.

2. Wadell & Reed HQ Tower:

Construction is advancing quickly and the tower crane started going up today.









3. Ashland at River Market (streetcar adjacent):

The project is finally moving forward. The new construction plan permit fees paid today.



4. City Market Renovation:

Walnut was reconnected, new seats added, new area sign, and some plants.

^Nice shot...

The City Market area is probably the one thing I'm most envious of KC for (including of course the Steamboat museum). 

A good start on the STL side would be renovating the Soulard Market and the adjacent park. For the amount of visitors this place gets, its current state of disrepair is embarrassing. I also wouldn't mind seeing a northern expansion of the market into the lot behind Social House.

I went on a short trip to KC this week and got a few project update photos. Not as many as what I intended on getting but I got caught up in some other things, mostly exploring areas where my family has some roots.

Reverb...
The project is sizable and a nice addition to the Crossroads neighborhood. While the building is more or less a new icon for the neighborhood, it lacks street level activation and will only incklude a small retail space. I guess that's fine but for a neighborhood that's becoming more walkable, it's unfortunate they left out activation along Walnut Street.





Loews...
The hotel officially opens on June 2nd. Final preparations were being done when I walked by. It's a nice property and one that I think will be popular once corona passes.






City Club Apartments on Main...
This massive project has grown on me. I actually like the way the exterior is shaping up. I am skeptical about the interior finishes though. Renderings make it seem cheesy and gimmicky but overall, it's a very solid project and adds density to this part of the Crossroads. The Kansas City region's first DGX store will open here fairly soon but I'm not exactly sure when. 






I love this picture. It shows off the "Streetcar effect". City Club and the Home2 Suites happened because of the Streetcar.


Waddell and Reed HQ...
The tower crane is going up for this project. It's a good project despite the misgivings on the ground floor. In my opinion, it's far better than what was there. Unfortunately, I didn't;t get to see the entire crane erected due to the weather. Based on the weather forecast now, the crane boom and jib will be up fairly soon.




Hyatt House on Broadway...
This project is stalled due to coronavirus but I can see it restarting soon. The orange and white crane has sat dormant for some time. The site has the general outline of the building in place and is ready to go vertical. It will add a modern building to Broadway. One observation about the crane I made when driving by it, it looks like it's leaning to the West but very slightly. This crane is visible from US-169 and maybe Route 9 when coming through North KC but I never went that way.



Platform Ventures (1227 Wyandotte Office)...
This building is basically ready to start construction but it seems that it is out to bid again to see if cheaper building materials result in a cheaper price. Construction should start this summer. Demolition on the parking garage is required. This building will be visible when coming across the Central Avenue bridge from KCK.


Children's Mercy Hospital...
The new building is quite slick meanwhile a new addition to one of the existing structures is ongoing.


The old Red Cross building on Armour...
Mac Properties is converting this old, mid century office building into apartments. The new glass looks good on it and a member on the KCRag is shocked at how it looks. It's unrecognizable from how it was before. Mac Properties owns most of the properties on Armour from Troost to Broadway. I didn't get a picture, but they're constructing a new building at 520 E. Armour and have plans to build 4 new buildings at the Armour and Troost intersection.



46 Penn Centre...
This new Plaza area office building is nearing completion. The crane is still up. It looks good. but if the big LED screen goes up, it could look tacky and ugly.


The Westley on Broadway...
This is a new OPUS development in the West Port neighborhood of KC. It's a solid addition to the neighborhood. NIMBYs were opposed to this when out was first proposed.


Some thoughts...
Kansas City is growing at what I think is a responsible rate. The projects proposed are built according to market demand and can grow or shrink with the flow of things. It seems to have worked out well. They aren't overbuilt in office or apartment space but hotel space is teetering on being way overbuilt. I could see the Streetcar extension to UMKC (51st and Brookside) bringing many more City Club and Westley sized buildings along Main. The streetcar has been such a success that its extension will only make the area grow more and bring a lot more sidewalk life to the area from Grand and Main to the Plaza. 

In my opinion, the next development cycle is KC's to lose. They have a lot going for them and are positioned well to boom post-corona related recession. It may be a different boom from what we have seen but it will make the main core denser. I hope to visit here more often as some of my family comes from here (although they were based in Brookside and Parkville). It's neat watching the city change though by staying up to date with the news and the KCRag forum. I'm not envious of the City in any way. They have their issues like us. They also excel at things like us. Overall, I'm just glad that they're growing but as a responsible pace. It will be good for them in the long run.

I drove by many other projects but didn't stop to take pictures I put my thoughts on those below...

1. Gallerie: This large project is near Crown Center and honestly looks pretty good. The buildings are of high quality. The Crown Center area could use many of those sized buildings to fill in the area and make it vibrant. The addition of for sale townhomes is a nice touch.
2. 2nd and Delaware: This project has been under construction for some time but I can see it being successful. It's close proximity to the City Market and Streetcar makes it a pretty ideal location for those wanting to live a car-optional lifestyle.
3. Artistry KC: This project is in the east Crossroads along Oak Street. It's a pretty sizable project and depending on how leasing goes, Oak Street and this part of the Crossroads could, and should, receive many more of these.
4. Grand Place (Old KC Star Building): Not too much to see there besides the scaffolding coming down.
5. Hotel Kansas City (KC Club Building): You can't see into the building much but I could see some desk? lights in the individual rooms. Some windows were being replaced to have black frames instead of white.
6. Union at Berkeley Riverfront: Pretty blah building but it adds many residents to the riverfront area. With other projects planned, including the streetcar expansion, the riverfront park will become a decent residential neighborhood. 
7. Uptown Shoppes: This project is adding multiple floors to a strip mall at Broadway and Valentine in the central part of the City core. My Airbnb was in the building right next door and I didn't get a good photo of the construction. There wasn't much to see yet though. Wood framing for the apartment floors was just starting. 
8. Midtown Plaza: Construction seems to have slowed here in this conversion of an office building to apartments. The recessed balconies are the most notable thing here. This is located along Broadway Boulevard at 34th Street.
9. Monarch Complex: The old Monarch/Netherland renovation looks great. Certainly better than how it was before. This is probably one of the first projects to be completed along Main in anticipation of the Streetcar extension. The neighboring building (it's one of the 2 building names) is being renovated right now. A yellow trash chute is on the Northside of the building, These buildings are just North of the 39th and Main intersection.
10. Embassy Suites (Old Federal Reserve): Project is stalled, so nothing new to see here.
11. University of Kansas Hospital (39th at State Line): The new buildings look good. They're currently building a new building but I can't remember what it is though. There's a tower crane up for it and everything. 
12. 13th and Grand: The site still has the twisty tower advertisement on it despite the new version being unveiled recently.
13. Strata: The site hasn't changed at all. Not even an advertisement sign is on site to attract some interest.
14. Old KCPS Building: Demolition is ongoing with some windows busted out but nothing else. No plans have been made public for what the replacement will be (ion there is one). Copaken Brooks is demolishing the building and unfortunately, they don't seem to have the capital to build something without a partner. I wonder if this will become a surface parking lot.
15. Briarcliff Village project: I didn't get to go up to the development but saw it from Route 9. Looks like a solid project. I imagine the views from up there are pretty good of the skyline considering the orientation of the buildings.

Allé: KC Crossroads

Apartments, Hotel, Retail

The updated rendering is below. Looks like the developer has aquired property to the north and now plans a sizable high rise. This is a few blocks from P&L. Competition for 3 Light!

Architecture by committee, I see. 

It's really a mashup of the previous plans but I'll take it. With it's height, it will be very visible and may draw the eye that way when looking at the skyline from multiple angles. If office, this has excellent building signage opportunity being near the highway, although I'm unsure if building signage is allowed.

My thoughts are that they're bullish on office and took the 3-story building they planned and grew it up quite a bit. The hotel would be on the lower floors of the office tower (brick section) and the shorter building will be residential (which shrunk from previous plans).

May we please swap KC's new Children's Hospital 





for our new SLU Hospital?

West Bottoms Flats is now open with an expansion planned in another nearby building for an additional 80 to 90 units. The developer is also planning a mixed use/office conversion. Most of the tenants are out-of-state transplants.

https://cityscenekc.com/west-bottoms-fl ... -in-works/

Turned out better than expected and hopefully will serve as a catalyst for future redevelopment in the area. West Bottoms has great potential to evolve into a unique and walkable district. The split level living room and kitchen is interesting as well.

^West Bottoms reminds me of DUMBO in Brooklyn before overhauled.  Like the functional grit sense of place.

hobo digitale wrote:^West Bottoms reminds me of DUMBO in Brooklyn before overhauled.  Like the functional grit sense of place.

It reminds me of Chouteau’s Landing some. Could be used as a way to model that development off of.

chriss752 wrote:The Netherland Apartment Building on Main Street, near 39th, has been open since April. The project redeveloped the long vacant Netherland building as part of Phase 1. 50 apartments are leased so far and the developer thinks that's good. The project has picked up a new restaurant called "Canary". The addition of the restaurant will add to the transformation of Main Street in this part of town. The more bars, restaurants and stores there are, the more activated the area becomes. Phase 2 is underway and that will bring some office space to the neighboring Monarch Building as well as a micro-hotel (10-20 rooms) to the development. The apartments look good to me. They're clean and modern. Views from the rooftop deck are spectacular as they provide views of the Downtown and Plaza area skylines in addition to the surrounding area. As for Phase 3 of the project, which based on renderings was to be a new construction building, I'm unsure when that will start. It's probably one of those things that will wait until the Streetcar extension is underway or completed.

The story about this development is interesting as redevelopment plans came and went. Cost was always an issue as the building was in poor shape from years of abandonment. In addition, it's pretty big. I think a lot of people are happy to see this building cleaned up and brought back to life. It's really a key anchor on this part of Main Street as it is one of the taller buildings, if not the tallest, along Main between Crown Center and the twin towers on Main near the Plaza.

In my opinion, the location of this is perfect. The Streetcar extension will have a stop at 39th, so you just walk out the front door and boom, Streetcar stop that can take you to Downtown or to the Plaza. In fact, this is one project that was done in anticipation of the extension. Going back to the activation of the area, the Streetcar will surely lead to more projects nearby to activate the area further. I'm looking forward to seeing the extent the extension has.

CityScene KC's story on Canary: https://cityscenekc.com/canary-landing- ... ep-owners/

Development Website: https://thenetherlandkc.com

For context this project is a block away from the intersection of Westport and Main


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Two updates for some Crossroads area projects...

1. Freight-house District (22nd and Main TIF)
A new application is in for the TIF to cover the Freight-house District, a plan that will building many new buildings (including Tracks 215) and renovate a few others. The TIF document gives us a key bit of information regarding the full development that we didn't know before: the total cost of the district. $228,502,212. Designs and renderings of the other buildings are not featured. This project could yield a high-rise or two up against the Main Street viaduct. 

You can read the TIF document here: https://edckc.s3.amazonaws.com/Plan6.pdf

2. Hotel Bravo
The controversial Hotel Bravo (Performing Arts Hotel) returns to the TIF committee for incentives and will most likely be shot down again. One thing to note is the construction timeline. Since this will probably be shot down again, I won't keep my hopes up that it will actually happen. It appears getting equity financing is dependent on having the TIF approved. This is rumored to be a Park Hyatt Hotel, which would be one of the higher end, if not the highest end hotel in the Downtown KC market.

Seems to me that most of KC's projects are concentrated in just a couple of areas. Is that correct? Here in STL, things are going up all throughout the Central Corridor from Downtown out to Clayton, and spilling over into Soulard, The Grove, Botanical Heights, etc. 

I'm not that familiar with KC. Could someone maybe post a map of the KC area showing where these hot neighborhoods are, and where the construction is happening? 

KC posters on here generally keep to RM-Downtown-Plaza corridor projects and a few of the biggest suburban ones (new Aiport, etc). There is a lot of urbanish style development ongoing on Overland Park, North Kansas City, and other suburbs that rarely gets mentioned if at all  (none are pictured below). There are also a lot of Troost, Prospect, and Independence Ave projects on the east side that don't get mentioned or updated that often here.

^Nice. Thanks.