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The downtown housing report was just updated and several more projects have popped up. Great momentum continues for downtown housing. Lucas Place and River Market W are 2 new very recent fully financed projects for another 265 units set for construction within a year. The old Folgers factory is now 'planned' as is Argyle and another River Market project - nearly 500 units that just came out of nowhere. The old Savoy Hotel was just added as opportunity, I'm guessing about 50 units for its size. I'd guess Google Fiber will trigger some more announcement in the city core. KCK (the lowest income city in metro) just announced its first new multiunit market rate building in 25 years, highly likely due to Google Fiber.
Come on. First off, with all that state funded sprawl out there, it's pretty sad that this is about the only residential project that has even been announced in like ten years of the state pouring money into a rural area. Regardless of the demographics of KCK, that area is rural and suburban at best and nearly all funded with tax money while most of KCK rots into oblivion. I would call that a Basesor, KS project, not a KCK project myself. The developed part of KCK ends around 78-80th street (minus the island of village west). So this is far from KCK. It's at least 4 miles west of the Cerner complex, which is in the middle of nowhere.
It's nice that after a few billion dollars in tax money that a few hundred unit apartment complex will go up somewhere between 435 and Topeka.
Now you could be talking about the recently announced developments near KU med on state line. Not sure if there is any residential in those, but it's nice to see some infill going on there. I'm surprised that such a large university hospital doesn't have a lot more spin-off development around it, but at least something is starting to happen there now. Anything is better than getting excited about anything west of 435 when 99.9% of the developed city is east of 435 and so much of that is blight and empty space.
Sorry, I was all excited thinking that a new apartment building was going up "IN" kck,like on Strawberry Hill or something, yet that is what I found when searching.
Ok, moving on...
The KCMO projects are awesome. Nice to see all the urban redevelopment there. Again, this new tower should spark a brand new wave of new construction development in urban kcmo now that kcmo has pretty much restored nearly every possible building in the downtown area.
Not sure any of this really has anything to do with google fiber though. I didn't even think you could get that in larger apt buildings downtown.
The downtown housing report was just updated and several more projects have popped up. Great momentum continues for downtown housing. Lucas Place and River Market W are 2 new very recent fully financed projects for another 265 units set for construction within a year. The old Folgers factory is now 'planned' as is Argyle and another River Market project - nearly 500 units that just came out of nowhere. The old Savoy Hotel was just added as opportunity, I'm guessing about 50 units for its size. I'd guess Google Fiber will trigger some more announcement in the city core. KCK (the lowest income city in metro) just announced its first new multiunit market rate building in 25 years, highly likely due to Google Fiber.
Dude, I really don't think the Delaware development in suburban KCK has anything to do with Google fiber. Much of the overall Delaware development has already been built, including normal middle-class suburban single-family houses and condo townhouses and duplexes. The apartment project has been planned for a long time, I'm sure, and is coming to fruition because of demand. I mean, there are thousands of $10 per hour jobs out there, Cerner will add another thousand jobs and hopefully thousands more later on. This apartment complex is good, I guess, because it's needed, but western WyCo has opposed apartments being built in fear of crime. Unfortunately, there is a history in KCK of apartment complexes causing problems for the wider areas they're in, but the difference is those are low-income, this new one is not.
The old Folgers Plant is looking more realistic for another 167 units in Garment District. 1899 building. W Bottoms also moving forward with a 100 unit project.
This is just a proposal, not sure if fully financed. No mention that it is seeking tax breaks, which is a good sign - though may want to use City parking. Hope to see more announcements as developers are not keeping up with demand for downtown housing.
^Lots of proposals, but not so much movement on the ground. With the supposed 95% rental occupancy rate, you would think this wouldn't be the case. Will this new River Market project you mention be any different?
Where is the Cordish/P+L apartment tower? Does it even have a construction schedule?
Has construction commenced at the Argyle building?
Midland office tower conversion to apartments?
And we all know the Power and Light Building apartment conversion proposal deal fell through.
Even outside of downtown, at least a couple projects also seem iffy - when will construction commence on the proposed apartment building on the NW corner of 51st and Main in the South Plaza?
What's going on with the apartments + Whole Foods project at 51st and Brookside?
I have noticed at least one project is well into its construction and that's the apartment building at 39th and State Line, but was surprised to see that its upper levels are being constructed of 2x4's and wafer board/pressed wood like cheap beige houses are.
I kinda have a ShowMe state attitude towards all this as well but proposals are just that until it breaks ground. The new P&L tower isn't supposed to break ground til this summer but you'd think there would be a new rendering by now. Not sure about the others. Folgers building got a setback as they were seeking MO historic tax breaks and didn't get it, not sure if it killed the project. Whole Foods is in very very early stages, not supposed to open til end of 2015 if I recall.
I was doubtful of the downtown Bikeshare thing but it came through and will expand to midtown next year. If only half of these happen, can't complain.
I was going to say the same thing, but didn’t want to because I’m so “negative”. And till that Cordish tower is a few stories out of the ground, I wouldn’t believe that will happen. Cordish announces ten times more projects then they actually build, including the one on that same site many years ago. Their people told me face to face that they were building a new tower and it would be UC by 2010 when that was my biggest concern when looking to lease some space in the P&L district.
The P&L project did fall through and hopefully it will see some new life soon.
Xenokc, I know this post will **** you off, but I’m a realist and I still think urban KCMO is just not getting the kind of private investment it should be getting by now. KCMO has poured BILLIONS of dollars into downtown and now they are about to build a 100 million dollar streetcar line (with a very local tax).
At what point do people realize that metro area developers and companies are just not stepping up?
I read the 2013 BLOCK Real Estate Market report a few days ago:
The entire thing talks about development………on the Kansas side. And it’s mostly heavily subsidized sprawl far outside of 435 in JoCo and WyCo. They talk about it like it GREAT!!!! KC is doing awesome!!!!
Nearly all the ongoing and proposed projects outside a few residential projects near the plaza are on the Kansas side. There are several major office buildings going up, the report says office construction in metro KC is at a ten year high, yet, nothing is going up in the freaking central city, not even the plaza for 2013. I still can’t believe they had to tear down west edge. If there was any demand at all for office in the city, that should have been re-used and a new office building constructed elsewhere. The “custom design” was a terrible excuse. They tore down a MUCH better building than they put in its place. But while everybody is moving to Leawood and Overland Park, the city had to do something so they bent over AGAIN just to keep another company from leaving after they threatened to do so.
I don’t know what more KCMO can do. They can only mortgage so much of their future. At some point, you have to see some of these companies move to the city and you have to see some of these local developers seeing potential in something besides village west or 135th Street.
Now, I know KCMO has a few really nice projects in the works. The new one on Main, the one near UMKC and this one. But KCMO should have dozens of projects like this in planning and at least a half dozen under construction by now. If you traveled, projects like that Whole Foods project are a dime a dozen is most cities the size of KC. The demand is there for the housing, but something is wrong with getting it built. I still think it’s because you can get crazy incentives to build in affluent suburbs, then why would developers want to even mess with urban locations?
Cities all over the country are breaking ground on huge new downtown corporate hq towers, convention hotels and condo towers. Forget Denver, Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte etc, I’m talking about places like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Baltimore have local companies investing in huge downtown projects, while KC continues to build up Overland Park, Lenexa and now even the boonies of KCK while everybody hopes the government continues to fill some of the holes left downtown as companies continue to flee downtown for suburban office parks.
Seriously, xenokc, is there any way you can look at this with a more open mind and see that there really is a bigger problem in KC that needs to be addressed?
KCMO is an awesome city. The city has done more with downtown than just about any other city I can think of over the last ten years. So far, I am really disappointed in what I thought would be a much more impressive response by the local business and development community.
Now you can tell me that I’m just about being negative and hating on KC (even though that could not be further from the truth). It’s 1980 all over again. Tower cranes are going up along 435 while the city is relatively quiet. What will it take for KC companies to WANT to be in the city and for developers to want to build there on a scale more on par with the size and the growing economy of metro KC?
^I guess you didn't see my last post. Hope you didn't pop a vein, that was a doozy. As if this forum could do something about it. Sorry if it p|ssed you off that someone made just a proposal for more housing, and I specifically said it was just a proposal. Damn them for proposing more housing downtown and not waiting to announce it until ground is broken. Embrace your new city and let KC go man. And yup, other cities have faster pace of development and KC has more going on in suburbs than city with office construction. Acknowledged - can say it in just one sentence. I don't have a problem with that, apparently it really bothers you, severely. Now go take a blood pressure pill.
^I guess you didn't see my last post. Hope you didn't pop a vein, that was a doozy. As if this forum could do something about it. Sorry if it p|ssed you off that someone made just a proposal for more housing, and I specifically said it was just a proposal. Damn them for proposing more housing downtown and not waiting to announce it until ground is broken. Embrace your new city and let KC go man. And yup, other cities have faster pace of development and KC has more going on in suburbs than city with office construction. Acknowledged - can say it in just one sentence. I don't have a problem with that, apparently it really bothers you, severely. Now go take a blood pressure pill.
No, didn’t see your last post, but not sure it matters.
Actually, I was not the least bit upset when I typed that, not at all. Urban planning is my thing. I can simply talk (or type) long posts about the topic, especially on KC. Even though I don't live there, I know the city a lot better than you probably want to admit and that has not changed.
This forum can't do anything, but I have a difficult time understanding how passive people are with the issues that are truly keeping KC economically stagnant especially the urban core. With all the assets that city has built and all the neighborhoods like the crossroads and the plaza and all areas between, there should be a lot more going on in KCMO and I personally think it’s a direct correlation with the state line and the complete lack of regional pride in the “city”. So long as everybody blows it off and rips me for being the bad guy for even bringing it up, nothing with change. KC will continue to try to fill its 30 year old office buildings as tenants leave for new ones in Leawood and Overland Park and new construction residential will never do well so long as nearly all new professional jobs are 25 miles away.
Oh and btw, if you post this exact post in any other forum, you will likely get the same exact responses, so it’s not like what I said or what mokan said is off base.
You bring up another proposal and make the thread look like KC is Miami, when the first thing I thought of is that the KCPL tower project just fell through and east village still looks like the north side of StLouis. There is not a lot going on in urban kcmo. After all the public and federal projects wrapped up, things came to a halt. So I ask the hard questions. What is wrong? What can be done? Questions I would think you would want to ask as well and questions I have tried to answer myself, but yea, I’m pretty much the only one that even seems to notice or care about these problems because well, I hate KC…
Last edited by kcmo; 01-16-2013 at 07:55 PM..
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