KCRag Forum

I had a brief chat this weekend with the developer of the Battery Lofts (among other projects) and he said he has a new development planned - I believe for the lot just north of the Greenlease Cadilac lofts at 29th and Gillham. Three floors, 30 units with some live/work units for the first two floors (not sure if condo or apartment, forgot to ask). He made it seem as if the project is ready to go and could be breaking ground soon.

I also noticed this sign on a building at 29th Cherry just a block to the east:


I'm not sure if this sign is new, or if I am just noticing it. A quick search of the number reveals it appears to belong to Abdiana.

KCtoBrooklyn wrote:I'm not sure if this sign is new, or if I am just noticing it. A quick search of the number reveals it appears to belong to Abdiana.

Not enough scrap metal slapped on the exterior for it to be an Abdiana project. Also, because it's an Abniana project, it probably won't ever get finished. But... over 130 parking!

Edit: Snark aside, it would be great to see some more new development there.

Edit: 12,5000 sf?

KCtoBrooklyn wrote: I also noticed this sign on a building at 29th Cherry just a block to the east:


I'm not sure if this sign is new, or if I am just noticing it. A quick search of the number reveals it appears to belong to Abdiana.

It appears to be this building.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=2900+Che ... -4.32&z=19

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=2900+Che ... 45,,0,4.06

KCtoBrooklyn wrote:I had a brief chat this weekend with the developer of the Battery Lofts (among other projects) and he said he has a new development planned - I believe for the lot just north of the Greenlease Cadilac lofts at 29th and Gillham. Three floors, 30 units with some live/work units for the first two floors (not sure if condo or apartment, forgot to ask). He made it seem as if the project is ready to go and could be breaking ground soon.

This appears to be the site.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=2900+Gil ... 9,,0,-4.25

KCtoBrooklyn wrote: I also noticed this sign on a building at 29th Cherry just a block to the east:


I'm not sure if this sign is new, or if I am just noticing it. A quick search of the number reveals it appears to belong to Abdiana.

The sign has been there for a while - I seem to recall a proposal from a few years ago with this rendering.

Union Hill is starting a major redevelopment project in about a week or so. Pretty much every vacant piece of land in the neighborhood will be built upon. 18 single family homes on spec all priced within about 50K in either direction of $400K and 5 apartment buildings totaling around 350 units or so. Gillam will have three 5 story buildings, market and slight premium to market rate apts with ground level commercial/retail reaching from the Cadillac building all the way to Martini Corner and there will be two smaller 4 story, 23 unit luxe condo-quality (though initially rental) buildings further into the neighborhood on vacant lots on the north side of 30th. The large open fields on McGee and DeGroffe and at 30th and Grand will all be completely filled in with the single family units I mentioned. Everything is planned, financed, permitted, contracted etc. so it's a done deal. Everything will be built all at the same time and they plan to start construction in the next couple of weeks. All the plans and renderings seem very tasteful, and there will be new streetscapes on Gillam and 30th. All parking, crucially, is underground. As a resident I'm pretty happy with the mix of density and single family.

Gretz wrote:Union Hill is starting a major redevelopment project in about a week or so. Pretty much every vacant piece of land in the neighborhood will be built upon. 18 single family homes on spec all priced within about 50K in either direction of $400K and 5 apartment buildings totaling around 350 units or so. Gillam will have three 5 story buildings, market and slight premium to market rate apts with ground level commercial/retail reaching from the Cadillac building all the way to Martini Corner and there will be two smaller 4 story, 23 unit luxe condo-quality (though initially rental) buildings further into the neighborhood on vacant lots on the north side of 30th. The large open fields on McGee and DeGroffe and at 30th and Grand will all be completely filled in with the single family units I mentioned. Everything is planned, financed, permitted, contracted etc. so it's a done deal. Everything will be built all at the same time and they plan to start construction in the next couple of weeks. All the plans and renderings seem very tasteful, and there will be new streetscapes on Gillam and 30th. All parking, crucially, is underground. As a resident I'm pretty happy with the mix of density and single family.

That sounds great.

Gretz wrote:Union Hill is starting a major redevelopment project in about a week or so. Pretty much every vacant piece of land in the neighborhood will be built upon. 18 single family homes on spec all priced within about 50K in either direction of $400K and 5 apartment buildings totaling around 350 units or so. Gillam will have three 5 story buildings, market and slight premium to market rate apts with ground level commercial/retail reaching from the Cadillac building all the way to Martini Corner and there will be two smaller 4 story, 23 unit luxe condo-quality (though initially rental) buildings further into the neighborhood on vacant lots on the north side of 30th. The large open fields on McGee and DeGroffe and at 30th and Grand will all be completely filled in with the single family units I mentioned. Everything is planned, financed, permitted, contracted etc. so it's a done deal. Everything will be built all at the same time and they plan to start construction in the next couple of weeks. All the plans and renderings seem very tasteful, and there will be new streetscapes on Gillam and 30th. All parking, crucially, is underground. As a resident I'm pretty happy with the mix of density and single family.

For real. Sounds a little pie in the sky. I hope I'm as incorrect as I am cynical.

Gretz wrote:Union Hill is starting a major redevelopment project in about a week or so. Pretty much every vacant piece of land in the neighborhood will be built upon. 18 single family homes on spec all priced within about 50K in either direction of $400K and 5 apartment buildings totaling around 350 units or so. Gillam will have three 5 story buildings, market and slight premium to market rate apts with ground level commercial/retail reaching from the Cadillac building all the way to Martini Corner and there will be two smaller 4 story, 23 unit luxe condo-quality (though initially rental) buildings further into the neighborhood on vacant lots on the north side of 30th. The large open fields on McGee and DeGroffe and at 30th and Grand will all be completely filled in with the single family units I mentioned. Everything is planned, financed, permitted, contracted etc. so it's a done deal. Everything will be built all at the same time and they plan to start construction in the next couple of weeks. All the plans and renderings seem very tasteful, and there will be new streetscapes on Gillam and 30th. All parking, crucially, is underground. As a resident I'm pretty happy with the mix of density and single family.

This sounds awesome, but you said it's a "done deal". So I'm inclined to think it'll never happen.

Do you have a name of an architect/builder/developer?

chaglang wrote:

Gretz wrote:Union Hill is starting a major redevelopment project in about a week or so. Pretty much every vacant piece of land in the neighborhood will be built upon. 18 single family homes on spec all priced within about 50K in either direction of $400K and 5 apartment buildings totaling around 350 units or so. Gillam will have three 5 story buildings, market and slight premium to market rate apts with ground level commercial/retail reaching from the Cadillac building all the way to Martini Corner and there will be two smaller 4 story, 23 unit luxe condo-quality (though initially rental) buildings further into the neighborhood on vacant lots on the north side of 30th. The large open fields on McGee and DeGroffe and at 30th and Grand will all be completely filled in with the single family units I mentioned. Everything is planned, financed, permitted, contracted etc. so it's a done deal. Everything will be built all at the same time and they plan to start construction in the next couple of weeks. All the plans and renderings seem very tasteful, and there will be new streetscapes on Gillam and 30th. All parking, crucially, is underground. As a resident I'm pretty happy with the mix of density and single family.

This sounds awesome, but you said it's a "done deal". So I'm inclined to think it'll never happen.

Do you have a name of an architect/builder/developer?

Yes, where is this coming from please? sounds too good to be true...though I hope it is.

All of those lots are owned by the Union Hill Development Company. Hmmm.

If all of this happens, i think a couple new restaurants would be great for this area. This area doesn't really have a pizza joint.

I'm going with not remotely true without solid proof being provided. I bet this is about their 20-year plan, not what's being started on. Since I can't find permits on file.

The city puts them all online in Kiva.

http://kivaweb.kcmo.org/kivanet/2/index.cfm
permitting system, search by address, I find entering the APN from the parcel viewer to be the most accurate method.

here's their acronym guide
http://www.kcmo.org/CKCMO/Depts/CityPla ... /index.htm

These two are good APNs to use, since it does return permit items from the past. and it's land owned by the UH group mentioned
JA29820160700000000
JA29820161200000000

many of the blocks owned by Union Hill has zero permit items returned, and the data dates back to 1986/7

by comparison, here's the Cosby Hotel
they have a permit showing for a COMMERCIAL TENANT FINISH/REMODEL
APN JA29220301700000000

How about this project on kiva? I'm not too familiar with the system, but it looks like something moving forward.

http://kivaweb.kcmo.org/kivanet/2/permi ... 8&jur=KCMO

http://kivaweb.kcmo.org/kivanet/2/permi ... 4&jur=KCMO

Scope of Work
Construct new mixed use 56 & 23 unit residential/mechantile building per plans reviewed for code compliance.

http://kivaweb.kcmo.org/kivanet/2/permi ... 0&jur=KCMO

Demo permit for 3008 CHERRY ST

that really shows it helps to know the exact address of a development.

all these sub addresses makes things really confusing.

go look at Kiva for the block the new Cordish tower will go in on for a good example

Those two kiva permits are for the Founders phase 2 and would be going directly east and southeast of the current Founders Apartments.

This would appear to be a match for two of the buildings Gretz described on Gillham south of the Greenlease Caddilac building.

As for my original post, I may have misunderstood and the building would be going south, not north - which might make more sense, as I think Hallmark owns the land to the north.

I would love to see (any part of) this development happen and Martini Corner spread east.
This building at 31st and Cherry has been on the market at a reasonable price for some time and I would love to see this rendering become reality:

31st has a ton of potential.

Source is Bob Frye, the master developer of Union Hill and owner of the aforementioned Union Hill Development corp which built Founders, Cadillac building, and most everything north of 30th St. on Grand and Walnut. We had a special neighborhood meeting about it a week or so ago attended by 50+ people and I've met privately with him twice about the alleyway that we share which will be completely re-done. Demo barricades went up around the remaining building on Gilham yesterday and the neighborhood is crawling with surveyors and utility relocation prep work is already beginning. As of the meeting last week he said that permitting is complete with the exception of some of the single family home permits which were still pending but that the apartment permits were in place already. Re: the open permits all items of any importance are closed with just a couple of very minor points remaining to be closed on which there was already agreement and closure of those permits was expected to be more or less imminent...days or at most a couple of weeks I think I remember him saying. Finance is disbursed, contracts for construction are signed and all work will be simultaneous. Bob and his company will be overseeing the apartment construction themselves but are contracting out the single family home construction as they are not very familiar with it. Like all of you, I've heard many tall tales of projects that never come to pass but that is usually because the financing doesn't materialize. Unless Bob Frye was just publicly telling a lot of bald-faced lies to the neighborhood association this seems like the real deal.

Gretz wrote:Source is Bob Frye, the master developer of Union Hill and owner of the aforementioned Union Hill Development corp which built Founders, Cadillac building, and most everything north of 30th St. on Grand and Walnut. We had a special neighborhood meeting about it a week or so ago attended by 50+ people and I've met privately with him twice about the alleyway that we share which will be completely re-done. Demo barricades went up around the remaining building on Gilham yesterday and the neighborhood is crawling with surveyors and utility relocation prep work is already beginning. As of the meeting last week he said that permitting is complete with the exception of some of the single family home permits which were still pending but that the apartment permits were in place already. Re: the open permits all items of any importance are closed with just a couple of very minor points remaining to be closed on which there was already agreement and closure of those permits was expected to be more or less imminent...days or at most a couple of weeks I think I remember him saying. Finance is disbursed, contracts for construction are signed and all work will be simultaneous. Bob and his company will be overseeing the apartment construction themselves but are contracting out the single family home construction as they are not very familiar with it. Like all of you, I've heard many tall tales of projects that never come to pass but that is usually because the financing doesn't materialize. Unless Bob Frye was just publicly telling a lot of bald-faced lies to the neighborhood association this seems like the real deal.

hells yeah.