KCRag Forum

kcjak wrote:Wasn't the Ambassador renovated just a few years ago?

Yes. It was renovated by McCormick, Baron and Salazar and they are managing it professionally (ie-successfully)

I drove by the Knicks yesterday and saw that the porches had all been knocked off. Maybe that happened a while ago, but it was the first time I noticed it. If we had a Demolition Pool going, I'd put some money on the Knickerbockers coming down in the next year or two.

Unless something's happened I don't know about, the current state they're in hasn't changed in years.

That's a shame. I'd still wager on them in the Demo Pool.

chaglang wrote:I drove by the Knicks yesterday and saw that the porches had all been knocked off. Maybe that happened a while ago, but it was the first time I noticed it. If we had a Demolition Pool going, I'd put some money on the Knickerbockers coming down in the next year or two.

The porches/balconies were removed at least a year (maybe more) ago.

Here are some pics from Knickerbocker Place last week.


The torn down buildings became an empty dirt lot.


West end of the standing buildings.


The only spot where the front balconies were torn off, apparently some time ago.


East end of the standing buildings.


Far west end porches.

Midtown Post gives a history of the Knickerbocker Apartments as part of their ongoing series on endangered buildings from the 2013 list.

http://midtownkcpost.com/2013/07/01/kni ... ered-10734

Ladies and gentlemen, KC Life!

What's KC Life up to today??

http://i.imgur.com/Xrxy0lD.jpg
guys in back spraying for utilities (at very least - they were accompanied by "suits" in polos )

check kiva!

Nothing issued since May.

i supposed it could be google fiber or some other non-threatening utility work...

...still waiting for Mac Property to pick these jewels up from KC Life. Maybe after the Ambassador is completed?

Nothing has changed with the exterior since the last pics were posted a few years ago. Same with the nearby Norman School.

What are the chances that these apartments will eventually be knocked down for parking?

Noticed that a Partial-demo permit came through for the demo of front porches on this building. I thought most had already been demoed?
http://kivaweb.kcmo.org/kivanet/2/permi ... 0&jur=KCMO

Where do residents of the Ambassador Apartments park? After the renovation, there are 116 apartments.

FangKC wrote:Where do residents of the Ambassador Apartments park? After the renovation, there are 116 apartments.

I believe a portion of them use the parking spots on top of the strip mall next door.

The ideal situation would be for that entire block to have a cooperative parking arrangement. I know that the owner of that strip mall, and the adjacent Uptown Theater complex to the south, Larry Sells, has proposed adding a 4-story apartment building on the parcel west of the current retail buildings--facing Pennsylvania (indicated in red on the photo). I don't know if those new units will require spaces on the roof of that garage. Sells might put the parking underneath on the current surface lot. I guess it depends on how many units would be in the new 4-story building.

That strip mall roof garage has at least 145 spaces. The Ambassador Apartments have 116 units. There is probably room for additional parking for the Knickerbocker Apartments on the roof of that garage-in addition to the small surface lot to the east of the Knickerbocker building. That surface lot and the four garage spaces in that small building on that lot could house about 25 cars alone--without the spaces on top of the retail building. The Knickerbocker looks like it has 24 units, so it might not need any parking on top of the retail building at all.

Perhaps Larry Sells could redevelop the Knickerbocker Apartments at the same time they are building the proposed apartment building along Pennsylvania. They are on the National Register of Historic Places, so historic tax credits would be available for the renovation.

So.... who owns this and how do we get it renovated?

Riverite wrote:So.... who owns this and how do we get it renovated?

KC Life Insurance, aka the reason why there's a number of other vacant lots around.

Saw a yard sign in the Roanoke neighborhood that said Save the Knickerbocker. Has the Uptown Shoppe proposal been moving forward and jeopardizing the apartments?