Kansas City development and construction thread (Center: mall, manufacturing, suburban)

[adebord]

I just hope they get a move on these towers before the next drop in the market.

We need some momentum down town.

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by s.davis

I would personally, in the light of day, destroy every single sign that said that.

Not very sporting of you.

[kcmo]

531 Grand breaks ground in the River Market.



This is a block north of Centropolis on Grand which is under construction.



Other large River Market projects under construction:

Second and Delaware


Union Berkley

[shindig]

Good to finally see something at 5th and Grand. That parking lot has been undeveloped for as long as I can remember. Lots of activity in the RM. Part of the construction crane for 2 light was on flat bed this morning into work. Should be going up pretty soon.

[kcmo]

I can't say I really like this project, but it looks like Cerner is going take the incentives and build it as designed, so may as well document the progress of this huge Kansas City, Missouri project.

The first two of sixteen buildings are topped out.

[Omahabound16]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I can't say I really like this project, but it looks like Cerner is going take the incentives and build it as designed, so may as well document the progress of this huge Kansas City, Missouri project.

The first two of sixteen buildings are topped out.

I'm not a fan either. I don't like the big sea of parking lots and how spread out the buildings are.

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I can't say I really like this project, but it looks like Cerner is going take the incentives and build it as designed, so may as well document the progress of this huge Kansas City, Missouri project.

The first two of sixteen buildings are topped out.

Seriously. What decade do they think this is?

[PA650]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I can't say I really like this project, but it looks like Cerner is going take the incentives and build it as designed, so may as well document the progress of this huge Kansas City, Missouri project.

The first two of sixteen buildings are topped out.

I agree with everyone here on this project. Frankly, I may never see it since I don't go that far south in the Metro.

In the end, Cerner went with the cheapest approach possible to develop their new campus. Evidently urban development and structured parking is too much of burden to their revenue stream. Of course they have every right to develop what they want, but it could be so much more, which makes it all disappointing.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I can't say I really like this project, but it looks like Cerner is going take the incentives and build it as designed, so may as well document the progress of this huge Kansas City, Missouri project.

The first two of sixteen buildings are topped out.

I work in suburban Denver in a fairly new "corporate campus" for a large, corporate employer. We have 3 5-story buildings, connected underground. And I have to say, this is a very annoying way to work. I'm constantly going to the other buildings, which takes about 15 minutes. Now when I'm at the corporate HQ in San Francisco, it's just one 20 story building. You can hop in the elevator and be at anyone's desk within 5 minutes in the skyscraper. Skyscrapers are much more practical for a large workforce over these spread out "campuses". Parking is also a pain, because it's out away from the buildings. On the positive side, it is close to a light rail station.

[kcmo]

It really is sad. This is by far the biggest missed opportunity in the history of Kansas City to take the city to the next level.

Kansas City could have 4-5 brand new 40 story office towers and 16,000 new employees downtown. Why not build just one tower downtown and still have a sprawling campus at the Bannister site? I think with the amount of incentives the city and state gave Cerner, they should have required them to build at least one downtown tower in order to get the over a billion dollars in incentives.

It's really annoying that KC is always behind with stuff. Ten years ago, I was like look, almost every city in the country is building residential highrises and KC is not. KC did not even have renderings being proposed. It took till 2015 for the first residential tower to open in KC.

Now the same exact thing is happening with office space. Office towers are now going up in nearly every major city, including places like Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Cleveland etc that don't see a lot of office tower construction. And KC is super super quiet. There is barely a proposed rendering (certainly nothing serious) of anything new coming to downtown KC. It could be another 10-15 years before Downtown KC sees a new large office tower. And when I say large, I mean a medium sized building of 20-25 stories.

Meanwhile, one of the largest office construction projects in the entire country is going up in South KC in a 1970's design single use, all surface parking office park.