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Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 8:50 am
by mgh7676
Eon Blue wrote:
mgh7676 wrote:MUCH better than the Chouteau Courts buildings, but still amazed that a development that is supposed to link this neighborhood back with the surrounding community has such an extreme retaining wall separating it from the community.

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This must be the rendering of the Rosehill Townhomes I was asking about in the Troost thread.
Sure is, I should have labeled that better.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:30 pm
by FangKC
The new stairs from the JFK Memorial Colonade to Cliff Drive in Kessler Park are almost completed. The drive will reopen this weekend, and be car-free on the weekends, and open to car traffic during the week during daylight hours.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:53 pm
by longviewmo
That's what they were doing up there? Hmm.

I was surprised the Colonade looks so nice on the back side. This picture also makes it look a bit nicer; there was some burnt wood in front of the grafitti

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Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2015 10:36 pm
by FangKC
Two firefighters died this evening fighting a large fire in the 3-story mixed-use building on the 2600 block of Independence Avenue east of the Prospect intersection. Two other firefighters appear to have been injured as well. The building appears to be a total loss.

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This is the building. It looks like the Payday loan business to the west of this building might also have been damaged, or destroyed. It's hard to tell at this point.

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http://tinyurl.com/ns26d4t

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:21 am
by Eon Blue
FangKC wrote:The new stairs from the JFK Memorial Colonade to Cliff Drive in Kessler Park are almost completed. The drive will reopen this weekend, and be car-free on the weekends, and open to car traffic during the week during daylight hours.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater
They are also building a staircase up to the meadow west of Corinthian Hall.

Not only will Cliff Drive reopen to car traffic during weekday daylight hours, car traffic will be limited to eastbound only with the former westbound lane set up as a separate path for walkers and cyclists. It appears that the Parks department may be hitting a home run here, or at least a double off the wall with these upgrades.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:15 pm
by mean
Isn't that the building that burned a couple years ago, causing the closure of Pho 97? It's either that or next door, I think.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:25 pm
by loftguy
mean wrote:Isn't that the building that burned a couple years ago, causing the closure of Pho 97? It's either that or next door, I think.

No, the building that burned last night was on the north side of the street.

It was the two story, tudor style building, between Snyder's grocery and the check cashing operation on the corner with Prospect.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:26 pm
by DaveKCMO
mean wrote:Isn't that the building that burned a couple years ago, causing the closure of Pho 97? It's either that or next door, I think.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/ar ... 65017.html
There was another fire in the building earlier this year, he said, but the damage was contained to one apartment unit and was quickly repaired.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:32 pm
by FangKC
Also worthy of mention is the walking and bike trails being constructed in Kessler Park along the bluff.

Here is a blog showing work starting on those.

http://kesslerparksingletrack.blogspot.com/

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More maps here.

https://www.facebook.com/bshoffner/medi ... 412e017ec7

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 4:50 pm
by loftguy
DaveKCMO wrote:
mean wrote:Isn't that the building that burned a couple years ago, causing the closure of Pho 97? It's either that or next door, I think.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/ar ... 65017.html
There was another fire in the building earlier this year, he said, but the damage was contained to one apartment unit and was quickly repaired.
"Tran, who owns multiple properties in Kansas City, said he bought the brick and vinyl building in 1999 but has no idea when it was built".

Brick and vinyl? The 'vinyl' is some kind of error. This was a brick, decorative timber and stucco structure that was likely 1920's era.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 6:00 pm
by mean
loftguy wrote:
mean wrote:Isn't that the building that burned a couple years ago, causing the closure of Pho 97? It's either that or next door, I think.

No, the building that burned last night was on the north side of the street.

It was the two story, tudor style building, between Snyder's grocery and the check cashing operation on the corner with Prospect.
Ohh, OK. Gotcha. From glancing at the picture I thought it was the south side but I see now that I was in error.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 7:38 pm
by Midtownkid
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Too bad about the lost building as well as the greater tragedy. It was a really unique building and gave that part of the street some character.

The old city keeps getting chipped away, a little at a time. But it's growing too.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2015 1:09 pm
by WinchesterMysteryHouse
I stopped here and spoke with a security guard- the corner building is going to be saved. No idea what will go on the plot that burned. Ind Ave has very little original building stock as of this event. It is a drag... but not a main drag. Buh duh bump. LOL. No really it sucks there.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 3:18 pm
by chingon
WinchesterMysteryHouse wrote:I stopped here and spoke with a security guard- the corner building is going to be saved. No idea what will go on the plot that burned. Ind Ave has very little original building stock as of this event. It is a drag... but not a main drag. Buh duh bump. LOL. No really it sucks there.
The amount of loss I have witnessed just on Independence Avenue since I moved to KC has really be stunning and sad. You can't do much about fires wrecking buildings, especially when so many of the get saved by the FD (inlcuding that building, which had burnt several times before), but I doubt there will be little difference between Independence Avenue 15 years from now and South Wornall the way it currently looks. Every new thing that gets built on the Avenue is about 30-40 years behind the times, in terms of urban design and practice, and no one is helping the neighborhoods in Northeast undertand that.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 5:55 pm
by flyingember
If you asked people living along Indep Ave, I bet they would take a street dominated by usable retail.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 8:00 am
by FangKC
The former two-story retail building, on the SW corner of Benton Boulevard and Independence Avenue, has been demolished. It had most recently been occupied by Rent-A-Center. In past years, it was reported to be a post office branch, and a carpet store operated there at one time as well.

From posts I read on the Northeast Facebook page, the building reportedly had "structural problems" and mold issues that stemmed from the property owner not maintaining the roof. The building owner attempted to sell the building for around $400,000 a few months ago, but no buyers. Others stated the building had been appraised for about half that amount, and it was way overpriced. Instead of lowering the price, the building owner opted for demolition. There is speculation that the owner thinks the land is more valuable without the building--since the parcel includes a parking lot that has a fairly big footprint on a prominent corner.

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The photo below shows the roof has been removed.

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Demolition fence in place.

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Demolition of building reaches completion.

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Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 9:10 am
by Eon Blue
That was a beautiful building and its demolition was a shame. This type of building is almost impossible to build new today, and even moreso on the Avenue.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 1:59 pm
by chingon
Shame.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 10:33 pm
by FangKC
This is an example of a situation where the City should put into place a redevelopment zone there, and make TIF available. With the age of that building, historic tax credits would also have been available. This would make the area more attractive to new owners, and people wanting to redevelop properties It is very difficult to get new development along Independence Avenue as it is. It is areas like this that are the reason that TIF was originally conceived, and there is certainly evidence of economic blight.

Even then, the current property owner might not want to mess with going the incentives route, but it might have made it easier to sell the property to someone who would--especially if a redevelopment zone was already in place. At Benton and Independence, we now have two prominent corners of the intersection that are vacant, since the Benton Theater collapsed, so it's probably time to create a redevelopment zone there. We have also lost several structures to fire recently near Independence and Prospect as well, so another redevelopment zone is probably needed there. I doubt it will happen on its' own.

The Historic Northeast is in great need of new multi-family housing as well, since none has been built in decades. Both intersections on Independence at Benton and Prospect now have parcels that would be good candidates for multi-family units. The population in this part of town has been dropping for decades, and it needs to start increasing again to support retail, and get it to return.

Re: Historic Old Northeast

Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:11 pm
by WinchesterMysteryHouse
Northeast has gone in the opposite direction of the burgeoning districts to the west. The ownership in the Westside & Crossroads are significantly different than other parts of town- arts-based or at the very least, people who've left KC once or twice in their lives. Even Midtown, the area around 31st, still has blocks of rotting commercial buildings. Its a net-neutral, really. At least those storefronts still stand. Northeast and eastside are a net-negative for urbanism.