Renovations of apartment buildings along Armour Blvd.

[town cow]

Interstate office building east of Burger King: apartments. Current parking will stay. Vacant parcel north of Burger King: apartments.

[brewcrew1000]

It would be nice to eventaully see those 2 storage buildings go away and turn into a small box store or something. Its pretty sad that 2 storage buildings are taking up the heart of midtown on roughly the same 100 block of Broadway and Main.

This area is going to end up needing more retail/restaurants or people will not live there

[flyingember]

the storage buildings closer to Linwood and Main had a for sale sign on them for a long time.

I've been inside the shorter one, it's in horrible shape and needs a huge amount of work. the basement floods for one, and I'm not talking an inch of water.
it's connected to the taller building next to it already, or was.

[FangKC]

Here is more information and mockups of the renovation of the Interstate Bakeries building, and the new apartments and retail space.

Developer will add 182 apartments near Armour and Main

The Chicago-based development group, which includes Silliman Group LLC and Antheus Capital, now is working on a three-phase, $25 million redevelopment that will add 182 market-rate apartments, 32,500 square feet of retail and office space, and more than 350 parking spaces near Armour and Main Street.

The so-called Armour Main Redevelopment project includes the already underway conversion of two failed office buildings, the former Interstate Bakeries Corp. headquarters at 12 E. Armour Blvd. and the Gillham Plaza building at 301 E. Armour Blvd.

The third phase, representing MAC Properties' first ground-up construction project in Kansas City, calls for 84 apartments, 54 parking spaces and 2,500 square feet of retail at 3435 Main St.

http://tinyurl.com/z4tyhs4

[mgh7676]

According to MAC Properties resident e-mail, they are shooting for a Fall 2016 completion of the Hostess Building and 3435 Main. Seems like an optimistic timeline, but MAC does seem to do a pretty good job of moving things along through the design/construction process.

[mgh7676]

More details about 3435 Main on El Dorado's blog:
http://www.eldo.us/16171/34-main/?platform=hootsuite

34+ Main is part of a new wave of multi-family housing construction on Main Street in urban Kansas City. The site, located in Midtown, is closely connected to a vital mix of small businesses, restaurants and residences, about 20 blocks south of downtown. 34+ Main is a transit-oriented mixed-use development, designed for a new generation of urban dwellers that depend less and less on cars. Currently, there are roughly 10 bus stops within walking distance of the proposed 80-unit development, and Main Street hosts the initial phase of Kansas City’s new streetcar system that will soon extend past our site on its way south to the Country Club Plaza, Brookside and Waldo. The project asserts itself as an active participant in a vibrant midtown community that is increasingly bridging the connective tissue of Kansas City’s urban fabric.

[mgh7676]

Here is the concept from Mac:

More news regarding this development:

The Planned Industrial Expansion Authority, a city economic-development agency, took steps to blur that line Thursday by adopting agreements that call for the PIEA to assemble five parcels encompassing all four corners of the intersection and work with MAC Properties to redevelop it.

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

[mgh7676]

MAC Properties will NOT be demoing the apartment that had been slated for demo a couple years ago between Baltimore & Wyandotte. They have been doing outstanding work for Midtown, and until now, this was my only fault with MAC. Excited that these buildings will be getting renovated.
http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-c ... 24015.html

[KCtoBrooklyn]

MAC Properties will NOT be demoing the apartment that had been slated for demo a couple years ago between Baltimore & Wyandotte. They have been doing outstanding work for Midtown, and until now, this was my only fault with MAC. Excited that these buildings will be getting renovated.
http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-c ... 24015.html

Wow. Great news!

[JBmidtown]

MAC Properties will NOT be demoing the apartment that had been slated for demo a couple years ago between Baltimore & Wyandotte. They have been doing outstanding work for Midtown, and until now, this was my only fault with MAC. Excited that these buildings will be getting renovated.
http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-c ... 24015.html

I wish more developers and property managers in KC took notice of what they do.

[longviewmo]

Dangling notions of demolition until more money gets thrown at them?

[JBmidtown]

Dangling notions of demolition until more money gets thrown at them?

I did not know that was the case

[mgh7676]

Dangling notions of demolition until more money gets thrown at them?

I would rather them get money to save a building than get money to tear it down and build new. I know they are also hoping for 1 million from PIEA to assist with the Armour/Troost Corridor, have they had to use many other incentives to do the rest of the buildings on Armour?

[brewcrew1000]

I was in Chicago a couple weeks ago and took an Uber. Got to talking to the driver who lived in Hyde Park in Chicago and mentioned MAC Properties, the driver happened to live in a MAC property and generally liked them but it seems like the surrounding neighborhood in Hyde Park Chicago generally dislikes MAC Properties because they are driving up prices while it seems like the neighbors in Hyde Park KC generally favor them.

[TheBigChuckbowski]

The surrounding neighborhood in KC is mostly single-family homes. Assuming they're mostly owner occupied, higher rents would be beneficial to neighbors.

[kboish]

The higher rents along Armour have also allowed investors to access financing they previously couldn't to allow for a wave of privately financed rehabs to happen throughout midtown. Most on the 4 and 6 plexes that dot the midtown landscape. So while the home owners generally like that investment, the owners or rentals also like the increased access to financing so they can either sell to someone who wants to upgrade the property or access financing to upgrade the property themselves.

[KCtoBrooklyn]

have they had to use many other incentives to do the rest of the buildings on Armour?

I believe they have used historic tax credits (state and federal) for most of their projects. As for abatements and other incentives, they have been used for some projects, but not all. I know they turned down available incentives for some projects, including the office building conversion, and I believe the Ambassador as well.

Relevant quote from a Biz Journal article:

Although MAC Properties was awarded a property tax abatement to support development of the 3435 Main project, Cassel said the company determined that it didn't need incentives to make the redevelopment of 12 E. Armour and 301 E. Armour viable because of the prices it was able to acquire those buildings for.
"I would say we've used local incentives on approximately two-thirds of our projects here," Cassel said. "But when we don't need them, we don't ask for them."

I was in Chicago a couple weeks ago and took an Uber. Got to talking to the driver who lived in Hyde Park in Chicago and mentioned MAC Properties, the driver happened to live in a MAC property and generally liked them but it seems like the surrounding neighborhood in Hyde Park Chicago generally dislikes MAC Properties because they are driving up prices while it seems like the neighbors in Hyde Park KC generally favor them.

Most of the neighbors in Hyde Park love what Mac is doing, but there are a vocal few who are upset about the extra traffic and supposed parking problems.

[brewcrew1000]

I think the MAC issue is more of a black/white thing. The KC Mac is thrilled because it will increase home values and most of the residents are wanting increased home values while the Chicago MAC has more home ownership that is black and they don't want the increased home values because it means more white people moving in as well as much higher property taxes.

[FangKC]

“Bridging project” intended to carry development past Troost

http://midtownkcpost.com/bridging-proje ... st-troost/

[DaveKCMO]

http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-c ... 87046.html