KCRag Forum

FangKC wrote:In NYC, most restaurants, drug stores, and groceries deliver. In fact, you can get practically anything delivered. Many seniors living in NYC can stay in their apartments and condos a lot longer for these reasons. If you wanted to, you could literally never leave your apartment unless you had to go for medical care.

I remember reading about some rich old spinster lady who didn't leave her apartment for years. Her attorneys, bankers, doctors, etc. all came to her.

I believe Cosentino's delivers downtown now, I hadn't even thought of that. Forgot what the fee is for the service, but I've seen Cosentinos vans around the area pretty frequently, so must be fairly well used.

FangKC wrote:Drop trash down a shoot.

I haven't seen much of that in KC but several of the Plaza area condos do it one step better. Some buildings have a doggie door from hallway to a lower kitchen cabinet and building staff collects trash every early morning straight from the unit. Not sure if any downtown buildings do that. Maybe San Fran tower.

cknab1 wrote:We moved to Santa Fe Place ( Crown Center) in 2001. After they went condo, we brought a corner unit in 2005. We started getting some grandchildren over the last couple years and thought about moving to a house in midtown so we would have more space. But after we looked around and examined our current lifestyle we came to the conclusion that this is the place for us. It’s so nice to simply lock our door and go on long trips without any worry. And even though we turned 60 this past year , we can still walk to the Crossroads and be regulars at all the great local places there. In nice weather we walk to the City Market or the Plaza and take the Max back home. And the streetcar is just going to make life that much better as expands. We have all the fun activities for the little ones, Crown Center itself, Sea life, Lego Land, Mayor’s Christmas tree, The Coterie, etc. We find it fun to see the school groups, different convention people, and others pass thru.

So for us this is the perfect place both to live now and when we retire.

Sounds great. How does the price compare to other downtown upscale places like (e.g.,) Union Hill? My wife and I have been intrigued by the place although we've never been in them. Santa Fe is the low rise? What's the tower called? What are the amenities other than location?

^San Fran tower is the one next to Santa Fe.

Enter San Francisco Tower in Subdivision search...
http://www.reeceandnichols.com/Listing/ ... ncedSearch

Here's a list of downtown lofts/condos...
http://www.downtownkc.org/wp-content/up ... Report.pdf

earthling wrote:^San Fran tower is the one next to Santa Fe.

Enter San Francisco Tower in Subdivision search...
http://www.reeceandnichols.com/Listing/ ... ncedSearch

Here's a list of downtown lofts/condos...
http://www.downtownkc.org/wp-content/up ... Report.pdf

Thanks for that. I could not find San Francisco Tower (maybe nothing is available) but the listings do serve to temper my expectations a bit. I thought I could easily afford something like the Walnuts or Kirkwood on the Plaza but they are at the very limit of what I could pay and for minimal square feet at that. Must be a lot of folks in KC with some bucks.

I found three units, SF Tower...

http://www.reeceandnichols.com/homes-fo ... 1-82375239
http://www.reeceandnichols.com/homes-fo ... 3-70727645
http://www.reeceandnichols.com/homes-fo ... 9-79225845

Also check Santa Fe (much less) and Western Auto Lofts downtown. Wallstreet Tower in middle of downtown.

On the Plaza, check Sulgrave and Regency House - 2 buildings that share the same doorman entrance. Regency House is a bit lower. Also check Wornall Plaza, Parkway Towers, also Oak Tower? and Carlton, which are all pretty similar (60s architecture kinda yuck) but lower priced with doorman services and deeded garage spots. The latter few tend to be pretty good bang for buck for full service buildings (that is if you want full service) but check into upcoming assessments. Some are doing upgrades, wanting to compete with higher end.

Try going to the home page and start typing building name, it should autofill as you go.

Sounds great. How does the price compare to other downtown upscale places like (e.g.,) Union Hill? My wife and I have been intrigued by the place although we've never been in them. Santa Fe is the low rise? What's the tower called? What are the amenities other than location?[/quote]

Santa Fe Place is priced less than our neighbor, San Francisco Tower. Although they were both built in the early 70’s, The Tower was a condo from the start while Santa Fe Place was apartments until 2005. We moved to Santa Fe in 2001 than purchased a unit in 2005. The price was pretty good because they were “as is” units plus we were able to get a 10 % discount because we lived there.
Some of the amenities beside the location that are shared with the Tower include an Olympic size pool with a club house surrounded by a 1 ½ acre garden, Tennis courts, and 24 hour Crown Center security. We have our own fitness center, business office with free Wi-Fi, community room, a laundry room & trash room on each floor, newspaper delivered to your door, secure package room, etc. There is underground garage parking and a car wash area. We have a maintenance person, plus custodial 7 days a week. We use Curry Management and they are available 24/7 if needed.
While the Tower has a 24 doorman, we have someone 8 to 5. Our HOA is 46 cents a sq. ft. which includes the above items plus water, chilled water for the AC, and basic cable, (soon to be Google fiber). I believe the tower HOA is based on square footage and what floor you live on.
There will be an auction by Cates Auction Company of a 28/29 story penthouse later this month that is located in the Tower. It would be a little much for me, but it should be interesting.

Here are a couple of links for price comparisons.

http://www.highrises.com/kansas-city/sa ... ce-condos/

http://www.highrises.com/kansas-city/sa ... co-towers/

our building in the crossroads has some retirees, but those who aren't skew quite a bit older (50+). at 39, i'm in the "young crowd".

If I was a smart developer with funds, I would build a high-rise condo building similar to the "continuing care retirement communities" that are becoming more common in bigger cities. Doorman, typical high rise amenities with all the support and community activities on the ground floor (i.e., cafeteria, pharmacy, gym/physical therapy facilities, pool, etc.). Perfect spot would be River Market or close by, on the fringes and within spitting distance of the streetcar line, like on the edge of Columbus Park.
This is a huge growth industry. I think there are lots of folks in the generation reaching that age that have fond memories of the city and would like to return. The fact that there are young folks pioneering the resurgence is attractive to them.
Alternatively, but less exciting, I think delinquent malls like Metcalf South would also make good conversions to developments for geezers. Er, I mean retirees.
Look at Shalom Plaza. I think an urban, well-located, high-density version of that would be successful.

I would build these types of apartment buildings around Truman Medical Center, St. Lukes Medical Center, Research Hospital, and KU Med. Center.

A farm system, if you will.

I was happy to find this thread. We moved to Liberty 3 years ago from So. Calif. I have not been happy living in Liberty or with the single-family home we have. I'd been thinking that I wanted to move to another large(er) house, but it suddenly struck me, as I was arguing with my 82 year-old mother about her living arrangements. I don't want to be like her. My husband is 71 and I just celebrated a big birthday. Neither of us has time to take care of a yard. Why are we in a single-family house? We should be down-sizing and thinking of going somewhere maintenance-free. My husband still works--travels quite a lot. I also work. We both work from home, so need a place large enough to have 2 work spaces. I miss city living. I lived in Boston for a few years and loved it.

This thread at least gives me someplace to start. I need to drive around and check out some of the places mentioned here. We have a great realtor in Liberty, but urban living is not her thing--I doubt she would be much help.

Thanks to all for the many suggestions here. I'll keep watching for more. We have no deadline--this is just something we want to do and once we decide on the type of place we want, we will need to list our house for sale. Fortunately, we live in a desirable neighborhood and the homes move fairly quickly here.

Have some friends who moved to Liberty last year. They live in a maintenance provided community. They love it.

Maison, you should start here.

http://www.theurbanpulse.com/properties ... tial/sale/

FangKC wrote:Maison, you should start here.

http://www.theurbanpulse.com/properties ... tial/sale/

Thanks, Fang. I may have fallen in love with the Union Hill Townhouse. As soon as I can get away, I will go check it out.

I liked that townhouse too. Union Hill is a great neighborhood. It's so convenient to everything. The view from that townhouse is lovely, and it's especially so at night.

FangKC wrote:Maison, you should start here.

http://www.theurbanpulse.com/properties ... tial/sale/

Agreed, Fang. There are other individual realtors that are informed about downtown, but this firm is the go to organization for all things releated to downtown living (rental, purchase, live/work).

Maison, I know several retirees living downtown and many more empty nesters who have made the move to the core. They are almost uniformly silly happy with the decision. It is liberating.

FangKC wrote:I liked that townhouse too. Union Hill is a great neighborhood. It's so convenient to everything. The view from that townhouse is lovely, and it's especially so at night.

Scouted out Union Hill as an eventual retirement place while back in KC. Loved it, particularly the newer north facing homes on the hillside. It's kind of an island though - central but yet isolated in terms of facilitating foot traffic (although the street car will be just a hop skip and jump away).

Some houses on Union Hill have some of the best views in Kansas City.

Not only that, but this neighborhood is a great example of rejuvenating a neighborhood and creating value by mixing new among the older restored houses. I've driven people through Union Hill, and it's surprising how many people don't even know this neighborhood exists, or how lovely it is.