My home on 11th & Grand

[QueSi2Opie]

I'm settled in at my new home on the 16th floor of The Professional Building Lofts. I'm happier living downtown, although I've already racked up a couple of grand on the credit card from dining out, enjoying the various bars & clubs, and throwing parties. Hopefully I've gotten it all out of my system.

Things I love...

1. Convenience and walkability to restaurants, bars, bank, library, galleries, etc. 
2. The view of the amazing architecture and skyline.
3. Proximity to the P&L District.
4. The MAX
5. Willie's Sports Bar (and 13th Street Bar & Grill)
6. Lunchtime and Happy Hour.
7. Watching the progress, construction and growth in downtown, especially on Grand with Azul's Latin Bistro, Bear Creek Coffee, NAIA Headquarters, The Kansas City Store, Spybar, RED buying up property along Grand, lofts being constructed in the old Club Chemical building next door, the streetscape taking shape with the recent tree plantings around my building, the giant guitar being unloaded in the P&L District (j/k), etc.

Things I hate...

1. People begging for bus money almost every time I leave my building, although now they're starting to recognize me.
2. The same vagrants standing on 11th & Grand for hours, someone was shot in front of my building two weekends ago.
3. KC Food & Snack carries very little in terms of basic grocery items.
4. The hours are horrid! Many businesses in the loop on both Grand & Main close at 3pm...especially restaurants which don't serve liquor.
5. Some of the neighbors in my building bring their trashy friends and family who litter everywhere. 
6. I work nights, so the constant noise is horrible during the day when I'm sleeping.
7. The Bryant Building.

Anyhow, I'm a flag nut, so I was very excited to hear that they were putting up world flags between City Market & Crown Center along the "Grand Boulevard of the Americas".

If any of the forumers I've met in the past wanna come hang out for a beer, wine, whatever during a Friday or Saturday, give me a PM sometime.

My Building


My Living Room






My Dining Area and Kitchen


My Bedroom






My Fantastic View

[KCMax]

Very cool pics. Hope you enjoy your new place!

[KCFan]

Welcome to downtown.  What property has RED been buying?  Also, what don't you like about the Bryant building?

[Stockton]

Very nice! Both the interior of the Professional Building and your furniture.

Hopefully RED buying up property along Grand means spinoff retail. How about that "main downtown shopping street".

And hopefully once P+L opens and those additional police officers are patrolling the vagrant issue will go away. The Reserve, East Village, and potential new office building won't hurt either.

[QueSi2Opie]

Welcome to downtown.  What property has RED been buying?  Also, what don't you like about the Bryant building?

RED purchased the empty storefront next to the Check 'n' Go and All Wrapped Up with plans to purchase additional properties along Grand.  I also heard that an upscale restaurant is planned for the old 2-story structure located next to the Trader's on Grand building. In addition to that, the crumbling parking garage across 11th from Jimmy John's will be demolished early next year and replaced with a new garage featuring additional retail space on the first level.

I hate the Bryant Building because 1.) it needs facade work and 2.) it's mixed use property with many floors appearing deserted and dirty.  Everyone that comes over says, "Great view except for that ugly empty building directly in front of you." Wasn't the owner planning on remodeling this building into lofts/condos? We could sure use more market & median-income
housing along Grand. 

[Stockton]

the crumbling parking garage across 11th from Jimmy John's will be demolished early next year and replaced with a new garage featuring additional retail space on the first level.

That's good to hear. That thing is an ugly piece.

[loftguy]

RED purchased the empty storefront next to the Check 'n' Go and All Wrapped Up with plans to purchase additional properties along Grand.   

RED purchased?  I understood that they are just working as agents representing the owner in leasing this property.

[anniewarbucks]

Oh how cute. Very modern look. You have a neat little place in the city.

[voltopt]

The Bryant Building is a major "Carrier Hotel".  They have improved the infrastructure of the building, but I doubt they will clean the facade. 
I've always liked the Bryant Building, because it is a significant building that gets lost in the skyline.  I find it rather impressive from the street, despite its "dirtyness"


http://www.carrierhotels.com/properties/bryant/

[Highlander]

My Fantastic View

You're in a great location to watch the 35 story P&L condo/hotel go up.  It should fill that sizable gap  between the Grand Building and the Town Pavillion (formerly TransAmerica building) nicely.  Keep us updated with photos!!

[ShowMeKC]

Congratulations on the move Downtown... I wished I was already graduated from college so I could move Downtown immediately, but I'll have to wait for a while longer... 

[HalcyonKC]

Things I hate...

1. People begging for bus money almost every time I leave my building, although now they're starting to recognize me.

Bus money my arse, you know they're just going to spend it on whatever addiction which resulted in their need to beg.  I cringe anytime I see someone give money to a panhandler.  The giver walks away with a warm fuzzy but is oblivious to the to the fact that they're just helping the beggar buy more poison to hurt themselves with.  Not giving money to beggars is a civic duty.  
 

6. I work nights, so the constant noise is horrible during the day when I'm sleeping.

I was also bothered by noise levels when I first moved downtown.  The problem with my place is that it faces one of the segments of the downtown loop, so I could hear a lot of traffic noise at night.  I would run a fan at night to generate a bit of white noise, but that wasn't a completely satisfactory solution.  So, this past winter, I went and purchased some "soundproof windows".  These are sort of similar to a storm window but face the interior of the room--since one generally can't modify the exterior of a condo building.  It's made a huge improvement.  Granted this is only something you can do if you own the unit.

[kman]

Your views are stunning

[mykem]

I like your taste! I def. like the view. What floor are you on? By the way, nice movie poster of the Clockwork Orange!

[CyDanny]

Congratulations on the move Downtown... I wished I was already graduated from college so I could move Downtown immediately, but I'll have to wait for a while longer... 

I hope you're going to make a fortune when you get a job.  I'm graduating this saturday and already have a job lined up with an engineering firm in KC, and my fiancee is a nurse at Children's Mercy, and there's no way we could afford to live downtown.  I'm not sure how people do it, much less furnish it as nicely as this guy has.

Anyone care to impose a little financial wisdom on me, as far as how people can afford to live downtown? 

[chrizow]

I hope you're going to make a fortune when you get a job.  I'm graduating this saturday and already have a job lined up with an engineering firm in KC, and my fiancee is a nurse at Children's Mercy, and there's no way we could afford to live downtown.  I'm not sure how people do it, much less furnish it as nicely as this guy has.

Anyone care to impose a little financial wisdom on me, as far as how people can afford to live downtown? 

it's actually pretty easy.  there are a lot of expensive units downtown, but there are also cheap ones (esp. if you can qualify for "low-income" housing which is actually not THAT low-income).

i pay $600 a month for a nice studio loft in a great building with secure parking (from a private owner via craigslist).  quality hill has VERY cheap rent as well.  there are others, just dig around.  this forum is a wealth of information.

[CyDanny]

it's actually pretty easy.  there are a lot of expensive units downtown, but there are also cheap ones (esp. if you can qualify for "low-income" housing which is actually not THAT low-income).

i pay $600 a month for a nice studio loft in a great building with secure parking (from a private owner via craigslist).  quality hill has VERY cheap rent as well.  there are others, just dig around.  this forum is a wealth of information.

Gotcha.  I was just looking on the Prudential website and perusing properties in the loop.  A lot of the lofts seem to be in the $200K range or above, with only a few sub-$200Ks.  I suppose there is a lot more out there if I were to really look, but we're going to be in Kansas anyways (for grad school reasons).  It just seems like a lot of these hot properties are exorbitantly expensive for the demographic that they are aiming towards, but maybe I'm overly conservative when it comes to financing a home.

[KCPowercat]

you'll be hard pressed to find ownership opportunities under $200k....some far east side places like the Manhattan & metropolitan will have some and maybe when Quality Hill's new owners flip some rental.

[CyDanny]

you'll be hard pressed to find ownership opportunities under $200k....some far east side places like the Manhattan & metropolitan will have some and maybe when Quality Hill's new owners flip some rental.

Are there estimates on the ratio of renters-to-owners for people living downtown?

[KCPowercat]

46% condos

http://www.downtownkc.org/FileUploads/D ... r%2006.pdf