West Bottoms Redevelopment

[archiKC]

actually, if you look at the before and after on the website they seemed to have done a decent job of infilling around the existing buildings. The only place I see a lot torn down is a couple on Liberty and between Wyoming and Genessee, which just so happens to house the majority of the existing life in this side of the bottoms. Voltare and Genessee Royale Bistro buildings both appear to be gone.They kept Amagoni, so that's good at least.

Overall, I really like this vision. Especially if it was revised to be infill only with a focus on rehabbing any existing buildings not already accounted for.

BTW is that a giant 4 story cow sculpture directly east of the livestock exchange?? yeah.. lets get rid of that

[DaveKCMO]

got a sneak peek last week at the streetscape and wayfinding project that's underway. the plan is to make use of all of the public right of way that's currently a mix of paved/unpaved/unimproved space, creating plazas that absorb runoff. road diets and bike lanes also being looked at.

current sidewalk conditions:

[mgh7676]

According to an April article, the View II apartments at 9th & Mulberry was to begin within 180 days of the article...there are no signs of work on the building, and no permits have gone through. Has this project fallen through or just stalled for the moment?

[Eon Blue]

I wonder about that, too. Work on the second penthouse at the View (same developer) is either proceeding very slowly or stalled.

[mykn]

For you history and West Bottom nerds, here's a Panoramic view of the west bottoms, Kansas City, Missouri & Kansas in 1895 showing stock yards, packing & wholesale houses.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4164k.pm004290/

It looks like the map shows the elevated streetcar line in the lower left hand corner.

[beautyfromashes]

^^ Where's Kemper Arena?

[town cow]

Interested in what raggers think of this piece about haunted houses saving the West Bottoms:

http://narrative.ly/unmasking-the-haunt ... ghborhood/

[FangKC]

In one respect, the haunted houses were the only reason many people in the Metro went to the West Bottoms at all. As property owners, they gave the buildings a new purpose for being, and perhaps kept them from being occupied by homeless people and succumbing to accidental fires. They brought some human activity to the area at night, which is no small feat. Because of the haunted house industry, many people became familiar with the area and started to appreciate the industrial architecture from a bygone era, and perhaps that lead to renewed interest in preserving the buildings and neighborhood.

[flyingember]

obviously crime likes abandoned places.

so any activity is welcome for a place no other business wants to be at.

even better, they bought activity in the evening, when the neighborhood needs more eyes around

[mgh7676]

Talking with some friends over the weekend, it sounds like Golden Ox may be coming back to their original location and sharing the space with the Stockyards Brewing Co. people. Interesting if true!

[voltopt]

I went to the Haunted Houses when I was in junior high in the early 90s, but I'm not sure they have been a catalyst for the development that the West Bottoms currently enjoys. I think it is more or less the nascent arts scene that grew out of some of the rave parties and artist housing that had been going on down there in the late 90s and before. I moved into the West Bottoms in 2004, and at that point there were already massive crowds for events at the Hobbs building, the Wild West Border Bar/Fahrenheit space, along with many other eventual uses including the Pistol, the Post Office, etc. I lived at 11th and Hickory and had a few friends who lived nearby, at 10th and Hickory, and in various other buildings owned by industrial companies. I only lived down there for a year, and at the time there were no cafes and the antique business was limited to used furniture re-sellers and the eventual Foundation. That said, I'm sure the Haunted Houses contributed toward the greater awareness of the West Bottoms as a place, but maybe no more than the American Royal or events at Kemper did. The Haunted Houses felt more like outsiders in the small West Bottoms community, interested less in the place as a neighborhood than as a venue. Besides, in the early 90s there were Haunted Houses at 12th and Grand, 13th and Main, and 19th and Forest, to name a few downtown locations.

Oddly, the comment about keeping the buildings usable leading to more historic building stock doesn't stand up when looking at past examples, ie Nightmares and the Main Street Morgue, which were demolished a decade ago. It is true that those buildings were closer to the center of the city, but I've always thought of the Haunted Houses as a sort of 'last use' for a building that no-one else wants. Hopefully this is no longer true!

[mgh7676]

$45M apartment project near Kemper Arena wins support

Ryan Cronk, a vice president of development for Flaherty & Collins, told the PIEA board that the four-story project will include 230 market-rate apartments over 8,000 square feet of retail. It will be developed on an underused surface parking area immediately south of the Livestock Exchange Building, 1600 Genessee St., and just north of Kemper Arena.

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... ml?ana=twt

With all the development news today, my head is going to explode. Exciting times in KC!

[flyingember]

retail in the west bottoms. That's amazing news.

Especially ironic is this "underused" lot was used by the Royal BBQ contest (at least the last time I went they did)

[FangKC]

What is amazing to me is that we can get new buildings of this density in the West Bottoms, but we can't get the same density at 27th and Troost.

[pash]

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[pash]

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[mgh7676]

Talking with some friends over the weekend, it sounds like Golden Ox may be coming back to their original location and sharing the space with the Stockyards Brewing Co. people. Interesting if true!

The Biz Journal article on the apartment project confirms that the Golden Ox is coming back, citing Bill Haw.

Grandma's Bar also has new owners that are planning on redoing the space. The details are a little fuzzy (too many drinks at the Ship), but it sounded like it would stay pretty divey.

[loftguy]

"Currently, the property nets all taxing jurisdictions a total of only $5,925 a year. Cronk said that during the 25-year abatement term, the jurisdictions will net a total of $3.9 million.
But that did not satisfy representatives of Jackson County, which was represented at the meeting by Tax Incentive Specialist Jack Feldman, or Kansas City Public Schools, which was represented by Kevin Masters, the district's director of government relations.
Masters said the non-city taxing jurisdictions asked the developers to reduce the tax revenue the jurisdictions are being asked to forgo by agreeing to a five-year, 100 percent abatement followed by 20-year, 50 percent abatement."

There is reason to analyze Tax Abatement requests with greater scrutiny now that higher rents are in pro forma projections.

However, Jackson County and the KCMO school district make me remember the finesse used by the mob in extorting funds from businesses.

I'm not trying to be funny either.

Where was the library representation? They usually are at that table.

[kboish]

"Currently, the property nets all taxing jurisdictions a total of only $5,925 a year. Cronk said that during the 25-year abatement term, the jurisdictions will net a total of $3.9 million.
But that did not satisfy representatives of Jackson County, which was represented at the meeting by Tax Incentive Specialist Jack Feldman, or Kansas City Public Schools, which was represented by Kevin Masters, the district's director of government relations.
Masters said the non-city taxing jurisdictions asked the developers to reduce the tax revenue the jurisdictions are being asked to forgo by agreeing to a five-year, 100 percent abatement followed by 20-year, 50 percent abatement."

There is reason to analyze Tax Abatement requests with greater scrutiny now that higher rents are in pro forma projections.

However, Jackson County and the KCMO school district make me remember the finesse used by the mob in extorting funds from businesses.

I'm not trying to be funny either.

Where was the library representation? They usually are at that table.

I think the important part is that the net of $3.9 million for all jurisdictions doesn't break out which jurisdictions get what. I'm pretty sure if you break it out, KCMO would be getting most of that amount while KCPS and Public Library wouldn't be getting much...albeit still more than they are likely getting now. Their main argument is that they don't think its "fair" that the council can abate the future revenues of the schools and libraries...but the council has the statutory power to do it (and any lawsuit to the contrary would fail because of that).

So you are right, in a way, that the schools/libaries are trying to extort a portion of the city's take by appealing to an emotional "fairness" argument.

[kboish]

I am certainly no expert on schooling, but I don't believe I have seen anywhere that people are saying KCPS are underfunded (though people erroneously equate the closing and consolidating of buildings as a sign of under funding- when it is actually due to contraction) Everything I have seen/heard about it is related to the quality of the education or at the least the performance of the student. In this case, the students performance is much more highly correlated to their family income levels/situations than it is to the problem of school funding.

Additionally, the KCPS is in an interesting situation where their enrollment is contracting, but their budget is still growing- if even at a modest rate. This somewhat counteracts one of the biggest arguments against incentives being that- Incentivizing a new development increases the amount of students the district has to provide an education for while decreasing its future revenues. A continuous drop in enrollment numbers makes this a tougher argument to make.