urbanSTL

Project Updates:

1. Bravicci Hotel Tower - 14th & Wyandotte:

Project Scope Announced (Dec. 24):
     500 parking spaces and 160,000 sqft office: 
     200 hotels rooms
     225 apartments
     Retail on the ground floor

Site: Just north of Waddell & Reed new HQ


2. Waddell & Reed HQ Tower - 14th and Baltimore:
Construction Updates(Dec. 24):

• Surrounding sidewalks and roadways have been closed
• Dumpsters on site - Interior demolition appears to have started
• Structural demolition to start in January
• Hauling, Demolition, Foundation, and Grading Permits, Development Plan have been filed

Design Updates (Dec. 24):

• Preliminary design work expected to be completed by the end of 2019

Project Scope: 18 floors, 260 feet

• 250,000 SQFT office
• 250,000+ SQFT parking

3. Ashland at City Market - Streetcar Adjacent:

• Building plans filed with the city (Dec. 24)
• Design updated and project opening planned for 2021 (Nov. 7)

ldai_phs wrote: ↑

Dec 24, 2019

Project Updates:

1. Bravicci Hotel Tower - 14th & Wyandotte:

Project Scope Announced (Dec. 24):
     500 parking spaces and 160,000 sqft office: 
     200 hotels rooms
     225 apartments
     Retail on the ground floor

Site: Just north of Waddell & Reed new HQ

This tower could be anywhere from 35-50 floors.  

Downtown momentum still on a roll.  Can smell that Midtown is next.

Also, you might cut down to one most meaningful pic per project.  A bit too much.

The posters on KCRag seem skeptical about this project. 

I have my doubts about this. How can two people who have been relatively quiet and on the down-low all of a sudden pop-up and propose something like this? Something is fishy here. I need proof that they can get 14th and Wyandotte done. 

hobo digitale wrote:

ldai_phs wrote: ↑

Dec 24, 2019

Project Updates:

1. Bravicci Hotel Tower - 14th & Wyandotte:

Project Scope Announced (Dec. 24):
     500 parking spaces and 160,000 sqft office: 
     200 hotels rooms
     225 apartments
     Retail on the ground floor

Site: Just north of Waddell & Reed new HQ

This tower could be anywhere from 35-50 floors.  

Downtown momentum still on a roll.  Can smell that Midtown is next.

Also, you might cut down to one most meaningful pic per project.  A bit too much.

I will try and cut down on the photos in the future. Maybe 1 to 3 for large projects to just give you an idea of what’s going on. Thank you for the feedback.

framer wrote: ↑

Dec 24, 2019

The posters on KCRag seem skeptical about this project. 

Sounds like developer has a lot of experience with hotels and some mixed use, but nothing at this scale.  Will be interesting to see how financed.  They did recently buy the land for a pretty penny so likely not a weak proposal.  Something may get built but maybe not this, depending on financing raised.

chriss752 wrote:I have my doubts about this. How can two people who have been relatively quiet and on the down-low all of a sudden pop-up and propose something like this? Something is fishy here. I need proof that they can get 14th and Wyandotte done. 

The developer was able to purchase 2 high profile lots for a sizable sum. The second purchase was made with a large overnight loan. IMHO, both show they have some significant financial backing and general know how.

If and when this comes to fruition I sure hope it’ll have good architectural taste maybe even iconic. Would definitely raise the bar.


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I was in Kansas City this weekend and decided to get some photos of projects. Besides this, I also took some long walks in KC and they were all enjoyable. Walking on Main and on the Trolley Tracks Trail were nice. I have other routes I hope to take in future visits.

First up, RideKC has a bike-sharing program now. This may not be new but I think it's significant enough to share. They have these dock stations around town.


The first project is 2nd and Delaware. This is a nice sized project on the North edge of the River Market area. It's been under construction for a few years but it's nice to see it come together. I first saw the blue crane up for this project in my April 2017 visit to Kansas City. The overall design is a simpler and modern version of some of the old River Market buildings.





West Bottoms Flats is a project that is reusing some warehouse buildings in the West Bottoms neighborhood and turning them into Loft apartments. While the West Bottoms is vast and a bit away from Downtown, if the Flats do well, I expect more residential developments to pop up down there over the next decade. This project reminds me a bit of Chouteau's Landing.






Platform Ventures appears to be in the early stages of moving forward with constructing an office building at 13th and Wyandotte. Fencing is up around a portion of the site. The parking garage will come down as a result of this project. To the East, a construction elevator is attached to a building that I think they are converting into a hotel. I'm not sure though. 



Waddell & Reed's new HQ renderings haven't been unveiled yet but demolition has started on the existing IBM building and garage. These will come down soon and the site will be leveled for construction of the new HQ.


The Loews Hotel is coming together nicely. First rooms should be occupied in February. It amazes me how fast this was built. In my opinion, the Loews sign should be a bit bigger, but it is what it is.




The Reverb Apartments are continuing to rise into the sky. The building itself isn't looking as dramatic as the renderings showed, but it's a nice project overall. Massing is good and the stepped facade is a nice touch. They have 4 floors to go till it's topped out.



City Club Apartments are coming along and the true size of the project is becoming apparent. It makes up a good majority of the block it sits on and the 6-story height, while not skyline changing, is enough to change the look of Main Street in this section. The added density is a bonus for the streetcar and neighborhood.




Artistry KC is a bit of a far away project from Main Street but brings in some nice infill to the East Crossroads. 


This is a random building off of 19th and Baltimore, but they're adding a floor to it. I assume this will be office space when complete.


Children's Hospital Expansion. Not much to say here, but its a nice sized building and changes the look of Hospital Hill.



The 41 Penn Office building is topped out and has received more of its cladding. It's a nice-sized project and makes an impact on the Country Club Plaza skyline. The overall design matches some of the neighboring office buildings. 



51 Brookside opened in the past few years and will sit at the Southern Terminus of the planned Streetcar extension to UMKC. The Whole Foods here is a nice touch.



I end this post with a comparison photo from 2014 and one from December 29th, 2019. Both were taken from the 40th Floor of the Sheraton at Crown Plaza. you can see how Main Street and the Crossroads got quite a few projects over the past 5 years. Loews, One Light, and Two Light are the biggest new skyline additions to date. In the next 5 years, Three Light, Strata, Waddell & Reed, the Broadway Development (3 buildings), 1822 Main (office for law firm), the Freighthouse District plans, a new apartment building in the Crossroads (to be announced), maybe Hotel Bravo, maybe Four Light, and maybe the Bravicci site project will rise into the sky and add some more change. Others that will happen but probably won't be seen by this view are Tracks 215 and the Washington Square Park office building by Vantrust. There will surely be smaller projects but we don't know them yet.

The Crossroads still has a long way to go before a majority of the surface lots are gone. If development remains at the pace it's at, I can see most being gone by 2030. 

On the bikeshare, KC was one of the first dozen or so and is more structured than most cites.  There's no dockless but the eBikes can be parked at designated 'dumb' bike racks around city.  Much nicer.  Bird/Spin operate in KC but the bus system also operates Drop, which requires locking down scooter but only 15c/min while the others raised rates.  Drop scooters are focused around transit stops.  Will be interesting to see how free bus works out if approved.  Will start around May if funding approved.

Additional details regarding the $350 million Freighthouse District Development plan.

The redevelopment plan will include three new structures.

- A 12 story (4 level parking, 8 level apartment) known as Track 215
- A 120 room hotel
- A 200k sqf office tower

The Superior Moving and Storage building renovation will kickstart the development which is slated to be converted into 70k sqf of office space.

https://cityscenekc.com/multi-phase-fre ... arly-2020/

Downtown baseball stadium talks also picking up steam with new Royal's owner.  Chit chat for East Village (east side of downtown Loop) is gaining momentum.

https://cityscenekc.com/new-royals-owne ... t-village/

IMO KCs priority should be looking into a way to get a streetcar to go to the current stadium area. While Busch Stadium drives millions every year into downtown, the defend created for parking infrastructure has been devastating to the surrounding areas


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KC Streetcar:

2019 had a total of 2,228,942 rides, bringing the grand total of 7,808,818 passenger trips since opening day. There was a 5% increase in total ridership from 2018 & 2019

ldai_phs wrote:KC Streetcar:

2019 had a total of 2,228,942 rides, bringing the grand total of 7,808,818 passenger trips since opening day. There was a 5% increase in total ridership from 2018 & 2019

Pretty significant numbers for a line that just goes from one part of Downtown to the other. The extensions to the Riverfront and to UMKC will surely double the numbers we are seeing.

1. Waddell & Reed New HQ Tower:

- 260,000 sqft of office
- 1,000 parking spaces
- rooftop cafe and conference center


New Renderings:










Progress:

- Final lease agreement was just signed.
- Demolition has been on going.
- Building will go vertical soon after demolition is completed






Edit: Additional rooftop cafe view renderings were released.

Really cool building a little envious of KC we need more new construction in our downtown.


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^We will get there eventually. We still have a ton of vacancy to take care of first.

In regards to WR, I like their building. Street level need some work but overall it’s a nice design. I would hope they opt for some lighting at night to make the building bright and not just a dark box in the skyline. All those angles and set backs make for some good lighting areas.

I also like that they’re hiding the parking garage behind glass so that it blends in more with the overall building.

I really like the contrast between the new and the old in this image:

framer wrote:I really like the contrast between the new and the old in this image:

For reference, 4 Light will encapsulate the short red building in the lower right.


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So, 2nd District Councilwoman Teresa Loar is under fire over a stupid comment she made in the wake of a bicyclist's death in Kansas City. Her comment that is under fire is this...

“We’ve got huge issues in front of us, and I’m very, very sorry and very troubled by the death of the gentleman on the bicycle and certainly don’t want to see that repeated, but unfortunately people die in this city every day and we just have to make sure that we’re keeping everything in perspective”

This is perhaps one of the dumbest things you could say regarding the death of a pedestrian and it's clear why her comments are under fire. She sits on the Transportation, Infrastructure and Operations Committee and was appointed to that position by Mayor Lucas. There has been a Bike KC Master Plan on the table since April 2019 and has sat dormant since then. There has been the opportunity to put a plan of action in place to at least try to reduce the probability of pedestrian and bicyclist deaths from happening but she has sat there with her head in her ass preventing progress. The plan costs $400 Million to implement but she does have to realize that the $400 Million figure doesn't have to be dished out all at once. Loar's comment here is that $400 Million is "prohibitively expensive". 

It's a true shame that someone with the mentality of Ms. Loar is in charge of the T.I.O. Committee, but it's not shocking. She has been a long-time member of the City Council so she has a level of seniority over her colleagues. However, that seniority should not grant her the ability to not review things of interest to quite a few urban-minded people and it should not grant her the ability to shrug off deaths of people as an unfortunate circumstance. Things can be done but when gross incompetence is living in your head, I can see how it becomes hard to lead responsibly. 

Teresa Loar represents the 2nd District on the Council as an "at large" councilwoman. The 2nd District is in Northwest Kansas City and includes the airport. Her pedestrian comments make sense since this part of the City is very suburban in nature and actually has some rural parts. Her constituents may agree with her comments but that's beside the point. As an at large council member, you're elected by the entire City and not just the people in your district. It should be your job to put the interests of the people of Kansas City first before your own, but she clearly put herself before common sense. 

It's a shame that probably the only way she would consider taking up the $400 Million, multi-year BikeKC plan is if something happened to one of her family members or close friends. It's bad to say that but sometimes the only way to have someone like Loar make a change is by something terrible happening to someone they love. People don't have to die in your city every day, Ms. Loar. If you stopped sitting around and wasting taxpayer dollars on your paycheck, fewer people would die but, you be you. 

She'll either take two paths to this situation. 1: Double down on her comments and focus on other things. Or 2: Apologies for her comments. However, an apology may not be enough after this. In my opinion, not only should Teresa Loar apologize for her comments, but she should also resign her position as the Chairperson of the Transportation, Infrastructure, and Operations Committee. She should not be in that position while making comments like this. And at most, she should resign from the Council and ***** off back to the 2nd District. If she were to resign her committee position, I would hope the BikeKC plan is taken up swiftly. The improvements would not only make biking in Kansas City better, but I almost guarantee that people who choose to walk or run would benefit from the plan as well. It's a win-win situation in my opinion. 

She's term-limited out anyway, so come the 2023 election, she goes bye-bye. Whoever her successor is, I hope he or she is more urban-minded than Ms. Loar despite the 2nd District not being very urban in nature. Just having a certain mindset can go a long way when you're at "at large" council member.

Teresa Loar has earned my "This Week in Stupidity" award.