New office tower proposed for Downtown KCMO. KC really starting to get exciting! (Houston: homes, landscaping)

[MoNative34]

You know you're on City Data when a large amount of street capacity is somehow a bad thing.

[nycrite]

Originally Posted by luzianne

He wasn't talking about how they LOOK, obviously. He was talking about people wanting to live in the suburbs; to live in a lower density area. I would say MOST people don't want to live in multi-family housing. For those who do, that's great. Build apartments and condos (which is just an apartment that you buy instead of rent), townhouses, etc. and go live down there and share walls, ceiling and floor with your neighbors.


I will stay out here in the suburbs, where I have my own space - a front yard, a back yard, a deck of my own that's not right next to my neighbor's deck, windows on the north, south, east and west of my house so I have a view in every direction. If I turn up my stereo or TV, the neighbors can't hear it.


I lived in a dorm and an apartment during college. Then I lived in urban areas where the house next door was about 10 feet away. No desire to go back to that.

I'm an older millennial that would love to live in something more dense than a single family home but less dense than a high rise. Your townhouse suggestion would be ideal for what I'm looking for. This option exists in KC, but it's so uncommon that a real estate agent will rightly steer one away, because it's a higher risk buy.

My experience isn't everyone's experience, but I got burned on a townhouse a number of years ago in KC. I loved my townhouse for the number of years it provided maintenance-free shelter, but ye gods was it hard to sell. It took many months and a steep price cut to finally cut it loose. It was in near perfect shape when it sold.

This goes back to the city's culture. Right or wrong, it's a low density city both in terms of zoning and mindset. For those that want medium density, I concluded KC is best overlooked until downtown builds out and some of the neighboring hoods revitalize. Until then, one can live in a quiet high rise community downtown, or do what everyone else does and live in a house. (I chose the latter, for now.)

[CrownVic95]

Originally Posted by MoNative34

You know you're on City Data when a large amount of street capacity is somehow a bad thing.

The sound of normal is so good in a thread like this. +1, but I've gotta owe it to you.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by MoNative34

You know you're on City Data when a large amount of street capacity is somehow a bad thing.

It facilitates far more sprawl and slows down redevelopment and investment in older build environments in the metro area. Not everyone prefers driving places that are spread out all the time either, a novel concept. You really think that large-scale redevelopment of older areas of Johnson County is going to magically happen or any other older areas of KC when developers make profits of inefficient new developments on further out agricultural fields? I thought so.

[MoNative34]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

It facilitates far more sprawl and slows down redevelopment and investment in older build environments in the metro area. Not everyone prefers driving places that are spread out all the time either, a novel concept. You really think that large-scale redevelopment of older areas of Johnson County is going to magically happen or any other older areas of KC when developers make profits of inefficient new developments on further out agricultural fields? I thought so.

"I thought so"??? Modcut- watch your inflammatory remarks

If there was enough demand for redevelopment in the areas you mentioned, they would invest. You're welcome to invest all you want.

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by MoNative34

You know you're on City Data when a large amount of street capacity is somehow a bad thing.

Modcut If you engage a few more of those suckers, you'll realize that building roads costs money. And building freeways costs serious money. When you're cruising up I-435W to the airport, and you can only see one or two other cars on a six lane road in the middle of the day, listen closely. That sound is your tax dollars flying away as fast as possible.

I find it hilarious that the same people who want tax cuts and smaller government also want new and wider roads out the wazoo.

Do you know how many crumbling roads and unsafe bridges we have in this country? A lot. Do you want to know why? Because we overbuilt. We built new and wider roads out the wazoo, then ran out of the funds we needed to maintain them for the sake of the handful of people who use them each day.

This is not even about urbanism or suburbanism. It's about arithmetic.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by rwiksell

Modcut If you engage a few more of those suckers, you'll realize that building roads costs money. And building freeways costs serious money. When you're cruising up I-435W to the airport, and you can only see one or two other cars on a six lane road in the middle of the day, listen closely. That sound is your tax dollars flying away as fast as possible.

I find it hilarious that the same people who want tax cuts and smaller government also want new and wider roads out the wazoo.

Do you know how many crumbling roads and unsafe bridges we have in this country? A lot. Do you want to know why? Because we overbuilt. We built new and wider roads out the wazoo, then ran out of the funds we needed to maintain them for the sake of the handful of people who use them each day.

This is not even about urbanism or suburbanism. It's about arithmetic.

I wasn't even talking about KC overbuilt freeway system. Just go up in a tall building anywhere in downtown/crown center and look down. All you see is miles and miles of EMPTY streets. Even during the middle of a weekday and along the main drags like Grand and Broadway or almost completely empty. Downtown KC desperately needs a road diet. Widen sidewalks, add dedicated bike lines, add trees and other landscaping, but for the love of god, reduce the amount of lanes for cars. It will make KC more attractive, more inviting, more walkable, safer, etc etc.

KC needs urban bustle not pavement.

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I wasn't even talking about KC overbuilt freeway system. Just go up in a tall building anywhere in downtown/crown center and look down. All you see is miles and miles of EMPTY streets. Even during the middle of a weekday and along the main drags like Grand and Broadway or almost completely empty. Downtown KC desperately needs a road diet. Widen sidewalks, add dedicated bike lines, add trees and other landscaping, but for the love of god, reduce the amount of lanes for cars. It will make KC more attractive, more inviting, more walkable, safer, etc etc.

KC needs urban bustle not pavement.

Yes, that too.

[shindig]

Two Light officially kicks off.... Work begins on Two Light apartment tower | The Kansas City Star

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by shindig

Two Light officially kicks off.... Work begins on Two Light apartment tower | The Kansas City Star

Nice to see. While not a huge building, this will really be a noticeable tower in the Downtown area due to its location. The Hyatt tower is likely to start going up around the same time, which will really change the skyline.