KCs population had it not chased the suburbs.
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^ Speaking of chasing the suburbs, Strong Towns is doing a pretty deep dive into Kansas City's suburban experiment. Really interesting stuff. Pretty good read if anyone is interested. There are several parts and I think they plan to do several more.
Here's one of them:
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/202 ... experiment
Some are suggesting the city actually de-annex some areas, though I wouldn't say it's mainstream yet. I could see a case being made for everything north of the river becoming it's own municipality, while KCMO retains the rest south of the river. At the same time though I think there are some disadvantages to that too.
Here's one of them:
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/202 ... experiment
Some are suggesting the city actually de-annex some areas, though I wouldn't say it's mainstream yet. I could see a case being made for everything north of the river becoming it's own municipality, while KCMO retains the rest south of the river. At the same time though I think there are some disadvantages to that too.
KC Public Library likes to bring Strongtowns to KC a few times a year. They usually give a private presentation to the Chamber of Commerce and local politicians followed by a public one at the Plaza library. These events are VERY well attended - it is always a more than full house with people driving over an hour to hear what they have to say. Strong towns and their local partners have been diving deep into KC and giving presentations about this new research to the local ULI and other groups. A lot of non-urbanist businesspeople and decision-makers are being exposed to the movement now. I wish that STL would at least bring them in for their non-localized series.sc4mayor wrote: ↑Jun 28, 2020^ Speaking of chasing the suburbs, Strong Towns is doing a pretty deep dive into Kansas City's suburban experiment. Really interesting stuff. Pretty good read if anyone is interested. There are several parts and I think they plan to do several more.
Here's one of them:
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/202 ... experiment
Some are suggesting the city actually de-annex some areas, though I wouldn't say it's mainstream yet. I could see a case being made for everything north of the river becoming it's own municipality, while KCMO retains the rest south of the river. At the same time though I think there are some disadvantages to that too.
De-annexation would be of the vast acres of farmlands. Very doubtful that any land with established neighborhoods would be sent off. IIRC, I saw some top city staff and/or politicians talking about it in the past year too.
KC's core saw maybe a 50% cut. Probably less in the central corridor. Compare that to STL's 66% decline. I think the issue is that STL was soo much larger population-wise that a fall of only 16% more left a ton of stuff abandoned. Another issue is that a lot of STL's industry was in the immediate vicinity of its downtown (at least that's what I have been told and seen in photos). Most of this has been abandoned or bulldozed leaving huge scars. KC's historic heavy industrial zones - East Bottoms, West Bottoms, Fairfax - are separated from downtown by rivers and hills. These areas saw some decline but infilled pretty successfully with light manufacturing and logistics.PlatinumBlues wrote: ↑Jun 27, 2020Downtown STL was basically left for dead and I don’t believe Downtown KC seen the amount of abandonment and vacancy as STL had/did. Downtown STL has come a very long ways so has KC’s downtown. I think a few more high rises in downtown STL would do wonders for momentum and progress eventually what’s left to rehab will take time but I do think Downtown STL is on the verge for more new high rise development either way both cities are still holding their own when it comes to development. I like your passion for both Chris
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Two Light has hit ~99% now as well. I am told the open units are some of the lowest tier ones in the building. Two Light studios are going for $2.60 to $3+ per sqft.ldai_phs wrote: ↑Jun 26, 2020Cordish residential has done very well in KC during co-vid.
One Light has gone from 96% full in January to 99% full today. Two Light has the same number of vacancies(4 units) but went from 3 open highest end units to 3 open studios.
Overall fantastic news. OCW seems like it is on track to do just as well.
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The E Side is starting to turn with an unusual amount of public and private development last several years, especially Prospect and Troost. New Prospect/Troost MAX lines, new grocery stores and quite a few residential projects. Probably $200M-$300M last few years, maybe more if including Hospital Hill spillover along Troost. The number of private residential projects is pretty impressive for the most struggling part of city.ldai_phs wrote: ↑Jun 28, 2020KC's core saw maybe a 50% cut. Probably less in the central corridor. Compare that to STL's 66% decline.
$40 million apartment project to start this week on a Troost adjacent block.hobo digitale wrote:The E Side is starting to turn with an unusual amount of public and private development last several years, especially Prospect and Troost. New Prospect/Troost MAX lines, new grocery stores and quite a few residential projects. Probably $200M-$300M last few years, maybe more if including Hospital Hill spillover along Troost. The number of private residential projects is pretty impressive for the most struggling part of city.ldai_phs wrote: ↑Jun 28, 2020KC's core saw maybe a 50% cut. Probably less in the central corridor. Compare that to STL's 66% decline.
https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/ ... lsVElkTSJ9
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KC is stripping the the J.C. Nichols name from streets and fountains because of his past race-based housing restrictions.
https://twitter.com/reverbkc/status/1278382521110220801?s=21
Introducing “The Mercury Room” at Reverb. Designed by Manica Architecture.
Introducing “The Mercury Room” at Reverb. Designed by Manica Architecture.
Found on Loopnet. The parcel at 254 West 3rd Street is for sale. There's a rendering for a skinny, 42-unit apartment building on that site. The site is only 5,804SF. The building looks good to me and would be a nice addition to the area if someone buys the property and builds it. The claim of this being one of the last few remaining lots for development in the neighborhood is false. There are still many parking lots that can be built on at some point. However, it is one of the last parcels in this section of the neighborhood (which is everything to the Northwest of 5th and Wyandotte).
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Listing PDF: https://images1.loopnet.com/d2/E9pZDr_9 ... cument.pdf
Listing PDF: https://images1.loopnet.com/d2/E9pZDr_9 ... cument.pdf
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^Could use a coffee shop/cafe type corner setup but otherwise like skinny buildings as residential infill. Rounded bay window corner would be a nice touch too.
Troost Midtown Redevelopment Underway. $17 million renovations of much of the block between Linwood and 31st. That price figure is just for the rehab and doesn't include tenant build-out or finishes I believe. A financial services firm, a home design showroom, an American Indian museum, and 3 veterans non-profits have been announced as tenants. This is located on the same block as Walt Disney's studio. The studio's redevelopment so far has relied on funding from the Disney family. Local funding is in the works but waiting for other redevelopments (such as the one posted below) to start up first. This area also has 2-3 apartment projects under construction or close to breaking ground.
https://cityscenekc.com/troost-midtown-redevelopment-underway-first-historic-building-ready-by-fall/
This KCRAG post from May 20th starts off by showing the buildings mentioned in that article.
Work on both sides of the 3100 block of Troost seems to be in full swing (Compass Resources on the East, Clemons on the West).
Sidewalks still open while doing some repairs to the facade on this building:
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It looks like the new facade and addition are beginning to be removed on this building:
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Some updates on the 25th and Troost development - signs say move in starts summer 2020, which seems plausible for at least a portion of the poject:
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https://cityscenekc.com/troost-midtown-redevelopment-underway-first-historic-building-ready-by-fall/
This KCRAG post from May 20th starts off by showing the buildings mentioned in that article.
Work on both sides of the 3100 block of Troost seems to be in full swing (Compass Resources on the East, Clemons on the West).
Sidewalks still open while doing some repairs to the facade on this building:
It looks like the new facade and addition are beginning to be removed on this building:
Some updates on the 25th and Troost development - signs say move in starts summer 2020, which seems plausible for at least a portion of the poject:
^Oh, god, that last pic deserves to be in the Bad Mansard Hall of Fame.
http://badmansard.blogspot.com/
http://badmansard.blogspot.com/
ldai_phs wrote: ↑Jul 01, 2020https://twitter.com/reverbkc/status/1278382521110220801?s=21
Introducing “The Mercury Room” at Reverb. Designed by Manica Architecture.
FIFA World Cup 2026: KC FIFA Page
FIFA bidding process advanced this week. On Tuesday, FIFA held a group meeting amongst US bid cities. Today, Kansas City's bid team had a 1 to 1 meeting with FIFA Officials. FIFA Officials will visit KC in early 2021.
Exert from the FIFA description of KC released today:
“In the Heart of It All”, Kansas City is a passionate football city that has a successful Major League Soccer (MLS) club with more than USD 30 million invested in football-specific infrastructure, with another USD 500 million planned over the next five years. The city has a rich history of successful professional football teams, from the Kansas City Spurs of the North American Soccer League to the Comets and Attack of indoor football to the current-day MLS Sporting Kansas City. Nicknamed “the Wizards”, Sporting Kansas City was one of ten founding cities to launch MLS in 1996 as part of the legacy of the 1994 FIFA World Cup USA™.
Kansas city is home to the newly opened USD 75 million National Football Training and Coaching Development Center. Sporting Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Park has achieved international acclaim with over 150 awards. It has hosted multiple FIFA World Cup™ Qualifying matches, Concacaf Gold Cups (2011, 2015), men’s and women’s Concacaf Olympic qualifiers, the 2013 MLS All-Star game, and the 2013 MLS Cup Final. Arrowhead Stadium, which holds the record for World’s Loudest Stadium, has hosted numerous international exhibitions. All of this development will further grow the game with the city already ranking among the top five in the nation in youth football participation per capita, with more than 75,000 participants under the age of 15 and another 120,000 participants of all ages. Kansas City has professional teams in three major sports: Sporting Kansas City (MLS), Kansas City Chiefs (NFL) and the Kansas City Royals (MLB), and regularly hosts major professional and collegiate events, including the 2012 MLB All-Star Game, the 2014 and 2015 MLB World Series, multiple NCAA Men’s and Women’s Division I basketball tournaments."
Sporting KC Announcement
"We presented a strong, cohesive vision that demonstrates Kansas City's experience hosting major sporting events as well as our ability to unite an entire region around those events," says Kathy Nelson, President & CEO of the Kansas City Sports Commission. "Kansas City has demonstrated a strong commitment to growing the game of soccer and hosting World Cup matches in 2026 would allow us to cement our legacy as the Soccer Capital of America."
The KC2026 Bid Committee is comprised of representatives from the state and local levels in both Kansas and Missouri, as well as The Kansas City Sports Commission, Sporting KC, the Kansas City Chiefs, VisitKC, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, United Soccer Coaches and Heartland Soccer Association."
FIFA bidding process advanced this week. On Tuesday, FIFA held a group meeting amongst US bid cities. Today, Kansas City's bid team had a 1 to 1 meeting with FIFA Officials. FIFA Officials will visit KC in early 2021.
Exert from the FIFA description of KC released today:
“In the Heart of It All”, Kansas City is a passionate football city that has a successful Major League Soccer (MLS) club with more than USD 30 million invested in football-specific infrastructure, with another USD 500 million planned over the next five years. The city has a rich history of successful professional football teams, from the Kansas City Spurs of the North American Soccer League to the Comets and Attack of indoor football to the current-day MLS Sporting Kansas City. Nicknamed “the Wizards”, Sporting Kansas City was one of ten founding cities to launch MLS in 1996 as part of the legacy of the 1994 FIFA World Cup USA™.
Kansas city is home to the newly opened USD 75 million National Football Training and Coaching Development Center. Sporting Kansas City’s Children’s Mercy Park has achieved international acclaim with over 150 awards. It has hosted multiple FIFA World Cup™ Qualifying matches, Concacaf Gold Cups (2011, 2015), men’s and women’s Concacaf Olympic qualifiers, the 2013 MLS All-Star game, and the 2013 MLS Cup Final. Arrowhead Stadium, which holds the record for World’s Loudest Stadium, has hosted numerous international exhibitions. All of this development will further grow the game with the city already ranking among the top five in the nation in youth football participation per capita, with more than 75,000 participants under the age of 15 and another 120,000 participants of all ages. Kansas City has professional teams in three major sports: Sporting Kansas City (MLS), Kansas City Chiefs (NFL) and the Kansas City Royals (MLB), and regularly hosts major professional and collegiate events, including the 2012 MLB All-Star Game, the 2014 and 2015 MLB World Series, multiple NCAA Men’s and Women’s Division I basketball tournaments."
Sporting KC Announcement
"We presented a strong, cohesive vision that demonstrates Kansas City's experience hosting major sporting events as well as our ability to unite an entire region around those events," says Kathy Nelson, President & CEO of the Kansas City Sports Commission. "Kansas City has demonstrated a strong commitment to growing the game of soccer and hosting World Cup matches in 2026 would allow us to cement our legacy as the Soccer Capital of America."
The KC2026 Bid Committee is comprised of representatives from the state and local levels in both Kansas and Missouri, as well as The Kansas City Sports Commission, Sporting KC, the Kansas City Chiefs, VisitKC, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, United Soccer Coaches and Heartland Soccer Association."
KCI New Terminal Project:
Much of the steel terminal is up and concrete decking has started. Elevated roadways have also started.
Video
Much of the steel terminal is up and concrete decking has started. Elevated roadways have also started.
Video
First COVID casualties
- Kimpton Hotel on the Plaza cancelled. Word is the Holiday Inn will permanently and will be demolished.
- The Dylan 4711 also appears to have been cancelled. The plot of land is up for sale.
On a brighter note, full details have been released for the Freighthouse Redevelopment. Made me forget all about Kimpton!
https://www.flatlandkc.org/news-issues/ ... -and-main/
- 150 room hotel
- 12 for-sale townhomes
- 18 story office tower
- Two mid rises containing 200 apartment units
- Will incorporate the proposed Greenbelt pathway (also spearheaded by Bryant)
- Kimpton Hotel on the Plaza cancelled. Word is the Holiday Inn will permanently and will be demolished.
- The Dylan 4711 also appears to have been cancelled. The plot of land is up for sale.
On a brighter note, full details have been released for the Freighthouse Redevelopment. Made me forget all about Kimpton!
https://www.flatlandkc.org/news-issues/ ... -and-main/
- 150 room hotel
- 12 for-sale townhomes
- 18 story office tower
- Two mid rises containing 200 apartment units
- Will incorporate the proposed Greenbelt pathway (also spearheaded by Bryant)
+1
Western and Southern financial purchased the Holiday Inn (Kimpton) site and a redevelopment plan is in the works. Holiday Inn closes today. Everything will be bulldozed in time
The Freighthouse project is definitely one that I'm looking forward to. It's massive. The office tower on Main is more of a concept right now though.
This is a fly around of the development. You'll have to click on it to watch it.
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This is a fly around of the development. You'll have to click on it to watch it.
The mixture of housing types in this development is great. Even though 12 townhomes is a small amount, it's good that these will have some more permanent residents. 200 apartments is also no small number. While I would've preferred more, I understand that Tracks 215, which is more or less part of this project (Freight House District), will add more to the area. This development also sits across 20th from the City Club apartment complex and a few blocks away from the Artistry KC. So there will be no shortage of apartments in this area and based on how well the rental market does, I expect most of these apartments will be filled contributing a lot to the area. Business (both restaurants and shops alike) will benefit from all of this development.Loscher94 wrote: ↑Jul 15, 2020On a brighter note, full details have been released for the Freighthouse Redevelopment. Made me forget all about Kimpton!
https://www.flatlandkc.org/news-issues/ ... -and-main/
- 150 room hotel
- 12 for-sale townhomes
- 18 story office tower
- Two mid rises containing 200 apartment units
- Will incorporate the proposed Greenbelt pathway (also spearheaded by Bryant)
The 150 room hotel will be interesting. I'm sure the Home2 Suites hotel isn't thrilled to hear that announcement but these two hotels (Podium and Home2) will definitely cater to different customers, so I don't see one cannibalizing the other.
The 18-story office tower I am really hoping comes to life. I know it is connected to the hotel, but a tower of 18-stories would drastically alter the feel of this area more so than many realize. Based on 4210 Duncan in STL (which, funny enough, has a similar design to the Podium Office Tower), which will have 15FT ceiling heights, we will be looking at a roughly 275' tall office tower (from Walnut to the roofline). From Main to the roofline, maybe more around 250'. But that's just an estimate since we don't really know the final height yet and the design of the office building could change depending on who the master developer is.
Finally, the Greenline/Greenbelt is a solid concept and one that should happen regardless if this project happen.
$310 Million is no small investment by any means.
At this point in time, if you take every proposed new building in Downtown KC, the Crossroads and River Market and list them all, it becomes quite impressive what the pipeline holds (if it all happens). Three are under construction and I clarified those as "UC". "P" stands for proposed...
Then you have the recently completed projects (within the past year or two) and the projects that will be completed soon...
Off the top of my head, here are some of the redevelopments of buildings planned or underway in the area mentioned above. Since I don't know them all, this list may be incomplete...
It's all very impressive to me but I guess since KC doesn't have many downtown buildings that are sitting vacant with no redevelopment plan in the works or proposed, it makes sense why there's so much new construction.
- 3rd and Grand TOD (River Market - P)
- Ashland at River Market (UC)
- Flaherty and Collins's River Market project (P)
- River Market West Phase 3 (P)
- Alle on Broadway (high-rise and mid-rise - P)
- Hotel Bravo (P)
- Tracks 215 (P)
- PODIUM (office and hotel - P)
- Walnut Street Apartments @ Freight House Village (P)
- 3 Light (P)
- Strata (P)
- 13th and Grand (P)
- Platform Ventures's Barney Allis Plaza office building (Pending Start)
- Cambria Hotel @ 9th and Wyandotte (P)
- Hyatt House on Broadway (UC)
- Waddell and Reed HQ (UC)
Then you have the recently completed projects (within the past year or two) and the projects that will be completed soon...
- Loews Hotel (2020)
- Reverb (2020)
- City Club (2020)
- Corrigan Station Phase 2 (2018/19)
- Artistry (2020)
- Arterra (2018)
- Hampton Inn Crossroads (2019)
- 2nd and Delaware (2020)
- River Market West Phase 2 (2020)
Off the top of my head, here are some of the redevelopments of buildings planned or underway in the area mentioned above. Since I don't know them all, this list may be incomplete...
- Mark Twain Tower: redevelopment to apartments (P)
- KC Club Building: conversion to Hotel Kansas City (UC/Nearing Completion)
- Muehlebach Hotel: redevelopment into apartments (P)
- Midland Office Building: redevelopment into "the Saxon at the Midland" apartments (Pending Start)
- Scarrit Building: redevelopment into Wyndham Grand hotel (P)
- Palace Building: redevelopment into a Canopy by Hilton hotel (UC)
- Old Federal Reserve: conversion into Embassy Suites hotel (UC/Paused)
- Former KC Star building: conversion into Grand Place (UC)
- 21C Hotel (Complete - 2019)
- Church of Scientology (Complete - 2019)
- Crossroads Hotel (Complete - 2019)
It's all very impressive to me but I guess since KC doesn't have many downtown buildings that are sitting vacant with no redevelopment plan in the works or proposed, it makes sense why there's so much new construction.
I’m not trying to start anything, but there is an entire forum (KCRag) meant for this material.
I’m happy we can hear occasional updates on projects, but the UrbanSTL: KC page is almost more active than all of KCRag and is becoming one of the most frequently updated on here.
I’m happy we can hear occasional updates on projects, but the UrbanSTL: KC page is almost more active than all of KCRag and is becoming one of the most frequently updated on here.