KCRag Forum

^Fair enough. I just find the concerns about traffic and "extra people" to be troubling to anybody trying to densify the area.

The neighbors' arguments are weak, but this site deserves better. Not a good fit for the neighborhood. The city should veto this project.

brewcrew1000 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 16, 2018 4:44 pm Wonder if anyone stated the fact that this area is next to a bunch of restaurants and like 4 blocks from the Plaza so there would really be no need to use a car to get around. Also I think people visiting would more than likely use uber or lyft to get around, so there is no need to get lost and roam thru quiet residential streets.
This area really needs more density if the restaurants and businesses want to survive.

Hotels do add activity as well. and probably provide more customers to nearby restaurants than an apartment building. Hotel guests probably eat out twice a day while they are in town, if the hotel doesn't have an in-house restaurant, while an average apartment resident might eat out on the weekend twice a month.

Most complaints about the potential for increased traffic in Kansas City are laughable. The people making them should probably be slapped with a trout.

Traffic is a good problem to have. It means your City is successful and busy. I have lived in Kansas City for almost 17 years now and I cannot remember one time where I got stressed out about traffic. Most traffic problems here are short-lived.

People who complain about a surface parking lot getting developed should be reminded that it proves very little tax revenue to the City for police protection, schools, street maintenance, etc. People should be reminded that all these surface parking lots only means they pay more in taxes to make up for the lost productivity of land.

After reading the article, it sounds like the complaints re: south plaza hotel are really more about the shitty architecture and low-rent nature of a Home2 at this location. Which makes a fair amount of sense. The developer did attempt to dress it up with some brick veneer, etc. but is essentially trying to plop a generic freeway exit hotel on this lot.

I would think/hope a boutique or even Aloft type flag (something with a nice restaurant/bar to add to the area maybe) wouldn't see the same loud, unified opposition. Nonetheless, no incentives are requested and I'd think the area would be fairly ideal for the Home2 biz model with some large offices and UMKC nearby, as well as restaurants, bars, etc.

When will developers finally learn that slapping some shitty brick on the outside of a building does not make it high class or historic!

When we stop letting them do it.

rxlexi wrote: ↑Wed Oct 17, 2018 10:45 am
I would think/hope a boutique or even Aloft type flag (something with a nice restaurant/bar to add to the area maybe) wouldn't see the same loud, unified opposition. Nonetheless, no incentives are requested and I'd think the area would be fairly ideal for the Home2 biz model with some large offices and UMKC nearby, as well as restaurants, bars, etc.

If they are wanting an extended stay brand, the one by Starwood/Marriott called Element would have fit very well here, there are not many locations but Midtown Omaha does have one, they are a little nicer than the Home 2 Suites

RE: Element hotel at Omaha Midtown Crossing - looked it up and I agree, I think that would go over much better and make sense in that location.

I don't disagree with the neighborhood for wanting something a notch above a Home2. The rest of that south Main strip has been moving upscale pretty effectively over the last few years.

I get the appeal of an upper-mid tier hotel, but shouldn't we have a diversity of lodging and commercial options? To me that's the lesser, but still important, compliment to affordable housing in the city. Sure, you don't want a sketchy Days Inn or something opening up; but I think there's a pretty wide split between that and what is/was proposed here.

I care less about the branding than the design. They took a highway hotel design and threw it down with minimal changes.

Come back with something better, but when you unite the nimby and design crowd, I guess good luck.

That same brand with a somewhat similar design is fine at 20th/Main.

And it's one of the better extended stay brands. I agree that Element looks bad ass, but there's nothing wrong with Home2 for that category or that neighborhood.

I agree Home2 is fine at 20th/Main, though again the design could have been better.

I think in this neighborhood, however, which is surrounded by some of the higher end residential (Walnuts, Kirkwood, Sulgrave, Loose/Sunset Hill) and commercial space in the region, and a quickly improving south Main retail strip, a higher end flag is warranted. Plaza could use new hotel space, and while this is just "off plaza", it's close enough to be considered part of that mix to me.

Agree - the design could have been better.

FWIW, the Element brand has a lower rack-card rate than Home2Suites. It's comparable, but it seemed lower when looking at Omaha/Des Moines.

You're not going to find a lot of luxury, high end extended stay hotels. Not in KC, anyway.

You're not going to find a lot of luxury, high end extended stay hotels. Not in KC, anyway.

Fair point, would in fact prefer that this was a conventional hotel myself.

About that building reno on the ne corner of Cleaver & Main. They took a boring modern building and made it more ugly. It now looks like a postwar housing project. Reminds me of Quality Hill towers.

About that building reno on the ne corner of Cleaver & Main. They took a boring modern building and made it more ugly. It now looks like a postwar housing project. Reminds me of Quality Hill towers.

Agree, so bad. Right up there with the Country Club Bank rehab of the office building on Ward Parkway (One Ward Parkway).

Wish we could get the vocal folks to care about this kind of stuff, and not solid modern developments on/near plaza or in midtown.

rxlexi wrote: ↑Thu Oct 18, 2018 6:38 pm

About that building reno on the ne corner of Cleaver & Main. They took a boring modern building and made it more ugly. It now looks like a postwar housing project. Reminds me of Quality Hill towers.

Agree, so bad. Right up there with the Country Club Bank rehab of the office building on Ward Parkway (One Ward Parkway).

Wish we could get the vocal folks to care about this kind of stuff, and not solid modern developments on/near plaza or in midtown.

I work at the company that is developing this project and I understand (and sorta feel) your sentiment. I will say, the design that is being constructed is a lot nicer IMO than some of the first two designs that were drawn up. The building had a very strange floor plan to build onto. I feel confident it will look even better once completed.

We will be very active, local, long term owners of it though, so expect it to remain in excellent condition once complete.

I am a little confused and curious by what you meant in your last sentence though rxlexi?

According to a Business Journal article on endangered buildings the Christian Scientist church is to be torn down and replaced with a 13 story office tower. Would be a loss for the human scale along 47th and create a blocky wall on the north side.

moderne wrote: ↑Fri Oct 19, 2018 10:11 am According to a Business Journal article on endangered buildings the Christian Scientist church is to be torn down and replaced with a 13 story office tower. Would be a loss for the human scale along 47th and create a blocky wall on the north side.

I wonder if they got this wrong and meant there is a 13 story office tower being built behind this church?

I am a little confused and curious by what you meant in your last sentence though rxlexi?

Sorry I agree that was poorly worded. Was trying to say that I wish the more vocal NIMBY/Save Our Plaza folks would be up in arms about ugly rehabs, crappy plaza facades, dying street trees, hideous parking lots et. al, as much as they are about potential new, hugely positive projects like the Hufft Plaza hotel/apartments, OPUS Westport, or MAC in midtown. If you're gonna be pissed about the good stuff, be pissed about the truly bad stuff too so maybe we'll actually see something positive come from the bitching...

RE: Northpoint, I know they do quality work and think high-end senior housing on the Plaza will be a hit. But it's tough to make an 80's (?) office building into quaint senior apartments without it all looking a bit slapped together. Hopefully the end result is a success, I do appreciate that the architects tried to address the intersection/view with exterior balconies facing Plaza.