Kansas City development and construction thread (Washington: gated, legally, airport)

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Anzacosf

Long story short, the convention hotel decision went into the Municipal court hands on 2/2/16. The judge has ruled in favor of the city. The CfRG idiots can still appeal and they said they planned to do that in case of a failure, they have 1 month to do that. But to me that is a one huge step in building that much needed convention hotel. Hopefully in 2 months time, we can have all deals finalized to get groudbreaking right around summer/fall 16.

Judge rules downtown KC convention hotel proposal should not go to voters | The Kansas City Star

Is there any way to legally stop this before it gets worse and these groups bring development in KC to a grinding halt?

I read a lot of business journals around the country and this is just not a thing anywhere else. Development generally goes up in most cites with little resistance. The only real resistance is incentives for SUBURBAN projects. In KC suburban projects can get all the incentive they want, no questions asked.

The KCI thing is a mess too. Just today, the Washington Business Journal is talking about how Reagon airport is going to spend a billion dollars (using bonds like what KCI wants to do) to expand and re-model their airport. They are dong what they think needs to be done without asking 500,000 aviation experts their opinion first, (not that people here care like they do in KC.)

http://www.bizjournals.com/washingto...an-reboot.html

They will be done with redoing DCA before KCI can even convince voters to allow them to issue bonds.


On a positive note, there is a good possibility that KC will have two major towers going up along I-670 by next year. That will be an incredible site for KC. If only the city could find a funding source to build up recreation infrastructure that would include a green space park deck over I-670. I'm sure people would stop it too because that money should be used for schools on the east side.

[Truly Missouri]

Originally Posted by PA650

It's crazy what this group continues to do when they have no leg to stand on. I'm really wondering if they're being paid off by someone rather than just 'concerned citizens.

Exactly. That's the kind of conspiracy stuff that I myself am pondering. I mean where are these same people when Kansas needs protested for poaching and developing and so on.

[Anzacosf]

^ you re right about putting a stop to that group halting any type of development. Before this group can even appeal (which will be around 16K to 18K), they are being assessed fees due to the fact that the city has lost money in this waste of everyone's time lawsuit. I know about 4 CfRG members are being assessed, not sure how much though but I am sure that would slow down their fight against development. I guess we will see how far they are willing to go, i.e. forking and wasting 20K to stop a project that the city will benefit from.

As far as the airport, I would be honest; if the city leaders along with FAA/airport officials wanted to, KCI could change tomorrow without any questions asked, but I guess this is how the politics play here. My thing is if funding is not coming from the city (as far as taxes and such), why even bother bringing it to a vote? I guess we will have to wait and see.

[kcmo]

Vacant office building to become apartments:

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascit...flashcube.html

This is a great project. This building has been vacant for a decade and there was talk about tearing it down. Plus the developers may develop a nearby surface parking lot in a later phase.

With so much of downtown KC's office space becoming residential, I just wonder when KC will see new construction of class A office space. After a few years of very little activity, office towers are now going up in downtowns of most major cities. KC is one of the only cities to see almost zero office space construction or even interest/proposals.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Anzacosf

^ you re right about putting a stop to that group halting any type of development. Before this group can even appeal (which will be around 16K to 18K), they are being assessed fees due to the fact that the city has lost money in this waste of everyone's time lawsuit. I know about 4 CfRG members are being assessed, not sure how much though but I am sure that would slow down their fight against development. I guess we will see how far they are willing to go, i.e. forking and wasting 20K to stop a project that the city will benefit from.

As far as the airport, I would be honest; if the city leaders along with FAA/airport officials wanted to, KCI could change tomorrow without any questions asked, but I guess this is how the politics play here. My thing is if funding is not coming from the city (as far as taxes and such), why even bother bringing it to a vote? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Hopefully, they run out of money. They could have donated that money to a school or something .

The KCI vote thing is a state law. Kansas City would have a modern and much nicer airport today if it were not for that law. If everything had to go to vote and everyday people had the final say in everything, the city would be a total disaster today. KCMO would look like KCK today.

[kcmo]

Another office tower to go mixed use:

Redevelopment plan for downtown



This is across the street (and on the streetcar line) from another office tower being converted to mixed use:

[Anzacosf]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Another office tower to go mixed use:

[url=http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/development/article50125235.html]Redevelopment plan for downtown[/url]

http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places...s/15000760.jpg

This is across the street (and on the streetcar line) from another office tower being converted to mixed use:

http://projects.kansascity.com/2014/...ercetower2.jpg

Also the corrigan building redevelopment has started and copaken brooks say that they have a few tenants for it, including Hollis & Miller moving from JoCo to the crossroads. The hotel at 20th and main (which got approved for TIF thru the PortKC) is planning a groundbreaking any day now, so yea there are a few projects. I understand it could be more if it were not for NIMBYism.

[Anzacosf]

^ By the way, the commerce tower is one good looking tower. Too bad its floor plate disqualifies it as a Class A tower. Just pondering

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Anzacosf

Also the corrigan building redevelopment has started and copaken brooks say that they have a few tenants for it, including Hollis & Miller moving from JoCo to the crossroads. The hotel at 20th and main (which got approved for TIF thru the PortKC) is planning a groundbreaking any day now, so yea there are a few projects. I understand it could be more if it were not for NIMBYism.

Hotel and residential is pretty strong in urban KCMO. It's not like many other cities, but I would say it's average. KC doesn't have all the new condo towers going up because they are still retrofitting older towers (like P&L and Commerce). Office construction is horrendous in KC though. That's not due to NIMBYism (well other than the relatively small BNIM project), it's due to KC area companies having no interest in Downtown. Suburban KC has many office projects going up and millions of sq ft in the pipeline, probably more than most major cities. So when you do have a company like BNIM that actually wants to be downtown, it's pretty sad to see them being kicked around like they are.

Originally Posted by Anzacosf

^ By the way, the commerce tower is one good looking tower. Too bad its floor plate disqualifies it as a Class A tower. Just pondering

I agree, I have always liked Commerce Tower. It's once of the best I have seen anywhere from that time period.

[Anzacosf]

^ I agree with everything there