Living without a Car : Is it possible in Kansas City? (Liberty: apartment, lofts)

[brewcrew1000]

By looking at some of your past posts. It looks like you posted this question in Atlanta, Greenville, SC, Boulder, Sedona, and some other places. Id probably say that Kansas City is one of the best if not the best places to live without a car in a lot of the cities you mentioned, especially if you stay in the mapped area that Xenokc posted.

[xenokc]

Boulder maybe but very pricey place to live. ATL has rail to airport but overall KC has a good balance of hassle free livability with enough big city amenities/attractions and improving transit. I could live anywhere too with my job but prefer the easy going living in KC. If you want a high transit city, KC isn't one of them metro wide. The bus system is fairly extensive (over 60 lines) but most don't run very often. Is doable in city core otherwise with streetcar coming and bike rental stations. It will be inconvenient at times without a car but that can be said about most American cities.

[Geologic]

Originally Posted by brewcrew1000

By looking at some of your past posts. It looks like you posted this question in Atlanta, Greenville, SC, Boulder, Sedona, and some other places. Id probably say that Kansas City is one of the best if not the best places to live without a car in a lot of the cities you mentioned, especially if you stay in the mapped area that Xenokc posted.

Thanks for that kind comment.
I picked KC up in a survey somewhere on the web, and it has been "on my list" for many months. I never looked into it in much detail. But thought it might be worthwhile to start this thread.

Some of the other places, I am slowly eliminating, and KC seems to stay in the running. With comments like that, it seems I will need to look into it more closely.

Do they selll Condos in the Walkable areas?
Is there anywhere nice within walking distance of the Train station, or Bus Station?
What will it cost me for a nice 2BR/3BR condo of about 1,000 sq ft?

[Geologic]

WALKSCORES / Transit scores :

Kansas City, citywide : ws-44: Car-Dependent : pop. : 50,150

(Neighborhoods)
Old Westport--- : ws-92/60: Walker's Paradise (pop. 1,249)
CrossroadsArtsD : ws-89/77: Very Walkable : (??) - nr. 33 West 19th St.
Crown Center--- : ws-87/73: Very Walkable : ( pop. 763)
Kansas City, CBD: ws-86/86: Very Walkable : (pop. 3,711)
River Market---- : ws-75/81: Very Walkable : (pop. 1,377)

Country Club Pl.-: ws-90/55: Walker's Paradise (pop. 0,718)
Volcker -------- : ws-85/51: Very Walkable : (pop. 3,672)
Plaza Westport- : ws-84/55: Very Walkable : (pop. 1,174)
West Waldo---- : ws-69/43: Very Walkable : (pop. 1,369)
Brookside------- : ws-60/55: Somewhat walkable - brookside blvd.
===
/see: Walk Score of 33 West 19th Street Kansas City MO 64108


This data gives me a "top tier" of 5 neighborhoods to focus upon.

xenokc, that's a great map, btw. Thanks.

/ Next, I want to look at property prices

[Geologic]

Crown Center--- : ws-87/73: Very Walkable : ( pop. 763)



The Crown Center are looks interesting, for its proximity to the Amtrak station,
and also for it strategic position along the Bus Line.

It looks like a 2BR Condo (of maybe 1,000 sq ft) within close walking distance could be purchased there for $200-250K.
There may be some interesting single family homes as well.

Comments?
========
Is the CC area a good place to live?
Is it really as walkable and well-connected as it seems to be?
Will the route of the downtown street car be nearby?
Any safety issues?

Elsewhere : are there any New Urbanist developments in KC?
(I find the architecture in the above photo a bit boring, and "boxy")

I found this comment on the neighborhood:

Crown Center: boxy, boxy, boxy


The sprawling concrete Crown Center, on Grand Avenue and Pershing Road, owned by Hallmark Cards, calls itself “a city within a city,” and houses apartments, shops, restaurants, offices, a hotel, cinemas, and an ice rink. Interesting displays in its splendidly awful Hallmark Visitors Center trace styles of greeting cards alongside political and cultural changes; designs from the 1940s, for example, featured stars and stripes and Uncle Sam.
===
/source: http://triroute.com/best-of-kansas

[Geologic]

Originally Posted by Geologic

/ Next, I want to look at property prices

Some of the condos look amazingly cheap to me.
Are they rundown, or "on the wrong side of the tracks", or something?

Here's an example: within the Central Business District, Downtown

600 E 8th St, Kansas City, MO 64106
For Sale: $79,900 / Zestimate®: $119,272
====================================

:

Bedrooms-: 1 bed
Bathrooms: 2 baths (why 2 baths?)
Condo: 800 sq ft = that's $100 per sf.
Lot: Unknown
Year Built: 2006
============

WALKSCORE / Central Bus. District
============
(In the area): WS-80 / tr-84 / SS-82 /
Coffee, North View Cafe--- : 0.13 mi
Groceries: I.D.Pk Farm. Mkt : 0.15mi
Rest., bar: Red Front B&G-- : 0.21 mi
Union Theatre------------- : 0.36 mi
Bikes : B-Cycle, 13th&Loc.- : 0.42 mi
AMC Multi-cinema--------- : 0.43 mi

[xenokc]

^That area is pretty isolated, not much to walk directly to - City Market is close though, across freeway loop. Crown Center is doable and is along the Orange MAX line but if I were without a car I'd want to be near a market. There's only a couple places downtown - Consentino's at 13th/Main and several Asian/farmers markets near 5th/Grand. But if you don't mind busing/biking to a market, then anywhere along MAX line is doable. If downtown w/out car, my first choice would be River Market, then 12th/Main area, then Freighthouse District behind Union Station and then maybe Crown Center, which has a mini-mall.

Westport/Plaza area has quite a bit more retail than downtown if that is important to you. There is also a Whole Foods coming along the O MAX line near UMKC (around 50th St).

Downtown has many true warehouse loft condos mixed with old office buildings that have converted to apts/condos and a few newly built. Westport/Plaza has 1920s to contemp condos, not warehouse loft style. The Plaza area maybe has the most high end condos, many with full service/doorman. Downtown only has a few buildings with full service. S Plaza area has a nice strip of condos (like Sulgrave, Regency, Wornall Plaza) that is near a drugstore, library, O MAX stop and Whole Foods coming and Plaza area also has many 2br under $200K.

Might want to rent for 3-6 months to get an idea which hood is best for you w/out a car.

Good site to search for condos.. (check the 'condo' box)
Listing Search Form - Search for Real Estate Properties |

More downtown lofts/condos...
http://www.downtownkc.org/wp-content...ing-Report.pdf

[Geologic]

Thanks for those comments.
I am thinking the following might be better, though priced more than 2X per sf.
For someone who doesn't mind small windows, this location looks pretty good:

909 Walnut StAPT 1403, Kansas City, MO 64106
For Sale: $242,100 / Zestimate®: $223,304
=======================================

:

=============================================
Bedrooms: 2 beds
Bathrooms: 2 baths
Condo: 1,057 sq ft = that's $229 per sf.
Lot: Unknown
Year Built: ????
==============

WALKSCORE / Central Bus. District
==============
(In the area): WS-91 / tr-87 / SS-91 /
Coffee, Espresso AlaCart--- : 156 ft
Groceries: Deerfield Energy- : 356 ft
Rest., bar: Stables B&Grill--- : 316 ft
Bikes : B-Cycle, 13th&Loc.-- : 0.11 mi
AMC Multi-cinema----------- : 435 ft
KC Public Library------------ : 0.12 mi
Union Theatre-------------- : 0.29 mi
Outdoor: Mill Creek Park----- : 0.29 mi

[Geologic]

Originally Posted by xenokc

There's only a couple places downtown
- Consentino's at 13th/Main and several Asian/farmers markets near 5th/Grand. But if you don't mind busing/biking to a market, then anywhere along MAX line is doable.

Biking under a mile is no great problem for me.

Is "Groceries: Deerfield Energy- : 356 ft" less well stocked tham Consentino's?

[TabulaRasa]

Crown Center wouldn't be my first pick, if walkability is a priority, personally. There's just not much to walk TO, beyond Union Station and the Liberty Memorial. There are other neighborhoods that come to mind much more when I think of walkability.