Union Hill Development

[Demosthenes]

So they are well onto building the houses on McGee. With all the potential this block has, I'm pretty disappointed. I mean it isn't dreadful and it could have been worse, but still not very pleased. The houses are simply way too far apart from each other. I really don't understand. The design of the houses is great, but they got the size and spacing of them all wrong. I can't really tell what's going on in the back of the houses, but they are extra wide in the back which makes me think they possibly added a 3 car garage to the back of these. Ridiculous. Urban houses don't need 3 car garages (Of course I can't be sure they have 3 car garages, I may be wrong. But it looks very possible. Either way the backs of these houses are excessively wide for some reason).

Some developers get it, and some don't. Sadly this seems to be a very common problem with single family infill in urban neighborhoods. I feel like we have gotten quite good at designing urban infill apartments and rowhomes. For some reason though we haven't quite gotten down the urban detached single family infill. These homes are always designed way too wide and spread apart. I think it may be a problem with influence. It is like the model they are building off of is a small town rural A-frame or 4 square, as opposed to an urban example of either. The urban version is much narrower and has straight side walls, while the rural version tends to be wider and has more variation on the sides of them. You also tend to find side drives leading to rear garages that usually add to the property's width.

These houses on McGee have way too much side yard going on. It's like these homes beg for a tire swing, because they belong in the country. They could have fit one or two more houses into this space easily, and they should have. Shoot, if they wanted to get real they could have even made one of these buildings a 3 floor walkup. Of course I never in a million years would expect something that awesome.

I like the houses on DeGoff even though they have huge lots and are very suburban, but that is because the other older homes on that street are that way. McGee has a dense built form though. The older homes are all narrow and close to each other. To make this a complete street these new houses needed to be designed in the same manner. Just my $.02.

[Gretz]

There will be more houses on McGee. 3 on the West side of the street and 5 on the East. The salt-boxes the next street over have big yards but the ones on McGee will have practically no yards once filled in. They are supposed to start on the remaining McGee houses and the 3 colonials at 30th & Grand this spring.

[Demosthenes]

There will be more houses on McGee. 3 on the West side of the street and 5 on the East. The salt-boxes the next street over have big yards but the ones on McGee will have practically no yards once filled in. They are supposed to start on the remaining McGee houses and the 3 colonials at 30th & Grand this spring.

Hmmm... really? Didn't look like they were planning more houses, but I could be wrong. I'm going to try and take some pictures next time I'm over that way. I hope you're right, but I'm surprised at the amount of space each house is taking up so far.

[chaglang]

The new building on Gillham with huge, blank walls on the north and south facade is disappointing.

[Gretz]

That's straight from the horses mouth last fall. They got a late start and the builder they contracted the single families out to wasn't staffed to be able to do them all at once so they just did every other one on McGee, presumably to give them space to work/excavate, etc. The final plans have them packed very tightly. The two southernmost houses on the east side of McGee will even have front-loading garages as will all three of the colonials at 30th and Grand. The three on the west side of McGee will have alleyway access to garages behind the houses and I think the other three on the east side of McGee will share two driveways if I'm remembering right. All the salt-boxes on DeGoff (all except the northnmost two houses) are recent builds (last 20 years) and the two new ones will match them. I had a good look at the plans but it's been 9 or 12 months so I might be a little off on a few of those details but I'm pretty confident on the numbers.

[rxlexi]

The new building on Gillham with huge, blank walls on the north and south facade is disappointing.

Agreed. I posted a brief blurb about this last fall, wondering how the huge flat north wall would blend into the angled corner of Gillham and McGee Trfwy. Was hoping they would integrate it into the streetscape to continue the seemingly long lost idea of adding a retail corridor along McGee Trfwy. It appears to be a huge empty wall on both sides, but I'll reserve judgement until complete.

Despite that issue, this project overall still makes me incredibly happy. It's moving quickly, adding a ton of units in diverse buildings (including SF homes) at once. Good to see, was hoping Union Hill/31st would develop into a hotspot years ago.

[flyingember]

a huge flat wall could have non-destructive ivy planted at it's base. a cheap solution to add character

[chaglang]

The new building on Gillham with huge, blank walls on the north and south facade is disappointing.

Agreed. I posted a brief blurb about this last fall, wondering how the huge flat north wall would blend into the angled corner of Gillham and McGee Trfwy. Was hoping they would integrate it into the streetscape to continue the seemingly long lost idea of adding a retail corridor along McGee Trfwy. It appears to be a huge empty wall on both sides, but I'll reserve judgement until complete.

Despite that issue, this project overall still makes me incredibly happy. It's moving quickly, adding a ton of units in diverse buildings (including SF homes) at once. Good to see, was hoping Union Hill/31st would develop into a hotspot years ago.

At the moment that north side looks like it's going to be pretty bad. The angled corner could have been something dynamic. Now looks like it's going to be an awkward little space.

[Demosthenes]

Digging has begun on the lot for the 29 Gillham apartments. It's great to see all this construction on Gillham! I wonder which design they decided to go with?

There is going to be a LOT of construction going on in this city once the summer comes around!

[chaglang]

The pace of development across from the Filling Station seems to have slowed considerably.

[Gretz]

They expect the three buildings that are framed on 30th to be completed starting in late May with the westernmost one and the other two, including the one on Gilham trailing behind by a couple of months. They are starting on the rest of the single families in 6-8 weeks. The other two Gilliam apts, south of 30th paused for winter but are getting back under way now. All this per the developer, Bob Frye at Tuesday's neighborhood meeting.

[Demosthenes]

They expect the three buildings that are framed on 30th to be completed starting in late May with the westernmost one and the other two, including the one on Gilham trailing behind by a couple of months. They are starting on the rest of the single families in 6-8 weeks. The other two Gilliam apts, south of 30th paused for winter but are getting back under way now. All this per the developer, Bob Frye at Tuesday's neighborhood meeting.

Have you heard anything about the one at 29th and Gillham? I mean, I know these aren't the same developer (at least I don't think they are) but maybe they mentioned something at the meeting?

[KCtoBrooklyn]

They expect the three buildings that are framed on 30th to be completed starting in late May with the westernmost one and the other two, including the one on Gilham trailing behind by a couple of months. They are starting on the rest of the single families in 6-8 weeks. The other two Gilliam apts, south of 30th paused for winter but are getting back under way now. All this per the developer, Bob Frye at Tuesday's neighborhood meeting.

Have you heard anything about the one at 29th and Gillham? I mean, I know these aren't the same developer (at least I don't think they are) but maybe they mentioned something at the meeting?

I spoke with the developer of that project (John Hoffman) recently and apparently the hold up is due to the large crumbling retaining wall that the city is supposed to fix. I did notice piles of dirt on the site a few days ago when I went by, but I couldn't tell where the dirt came from and what sort of work was being done.

[chaglang]

There are large concrete blocks on-site now, which look like they could be used to build a retaining wall. There was also a bobcat there this morning, presumably to move the dirt that had collapsed into the site.

[moderne]

I put a reservation on a unit in the McGee building. To be completed in August. Among other things, sitting in the coffee shop across the street the scale of the intersection felt European as did the positioning of the lower level retail. But with American comforts such as an elevator! Anyone know any good reasons
I should back off on this? Want to sale my BC area house and somehow downsize to half the space. Want to rent not own.

[loftguy]

I put a reservation on a unit in the McGee building. To be completed in August. Among other things, sitting in the coffee shop across the street the scale of the intersection felt European as did the positioning of the lower level retail. But with American comforts such as an elevator! Anyone know any good reasons
I should back off on this? Want to sale my BC area house and somehow downsize to half the space. Want to rent not own.

Do it.

[taxi]

I put a reservation on a unit in the McGee building. To be completed in August. Among other things, sitting in the coffee shop across the street the scale of the intersection felt European as did the positioning of the lower level retail. But with American comforts such as an elevator! Anyone know any good reasons
I should back off on this? Want to sale my BC area house and somehow downsize to half the space. Want to rent not own.

Sorry, what/where is BC?
Interesting to hear you say this, I'm amazed at all the people I know who are obsessed with owning and are unable to realize that there are often real benefits to renting, in many cases.

[grovester]

Thinking Briar Cliff.

[smh]

Thinking Briar Cliff.

Good call. Best I could come up with was Brush Creek, but that didn't make much sense.

[geeman68]

I put a reservation on a unit in the McGee building. To be completed in August. Among other things, sitting in the coffee shop across the street the scale of the intersection felt European as did the positioning of the lower level retail. But with American comforts such as an elevator! Anyone know any good reasons
I should back off on this? Want to sale my BC area house and somehow downsize to half the space. Want to rent not own.

Sorry, what/where is BC?
Interesting to hear you say this, I'm amazed at all the people I know who are obsessed with owning and are unable to realize that there are often real benefits to renting, in many cases.

What are your primary pros/cons of renting? I would like to sell my home but its tough as I'm in Grandview and the housing market hasn't recovered from when the slump hit. Not sure how to go about selling my house without losing my shirt.