Cold Storage Lofts

[staubio]

PS...

The bus system sucks, a friend and I went on various weekend journeys to see what popular places the bus would take us. We were left stranded several times on Saturdays and Sundays and forced to walk exhausting distances, wait for hours, or call a friend. You can often get somewhere but there isn't ever a bus to get you back within at a complementing time.

Maybe thats my fault for thinking the bus was a good idea to go to the Zoo on a Saturday or Target at Ward Pkwy mall on a Sunday. I remember trying to make the bus schedule work to get to the airport and back. I think I had to be at the airport between 9-10 on weekday morning and come back on a Sunday evening. No go either way...Downtown to the Legends was a one way trip...by the time you get there the buses quit running back....

the max was a blessing, I'll give you that, I just want to see clones going in other directions.....

I'll concede that using the bus takes some planning. You shouldn't just hop on the bus without a plan for when and how you'll return.  It isn't hard to reference the schedules online to determine this stuff.  As you say, schedules can be sketchy on the weekends.  I'm sure the 51's route doesn't make it to the mall as much, for instance.

In terms of the airport, there is an hourly bus during weekdays that is pretty easy to use. The drawbacks are that it doesn't run during the weekends and that it only goes to one terminal, so you have to use the red bus if you aren't flying in and out of terminal B.

[deskside]

As I drove by Cold Storage around 2am last night, the lot out front was filled with several ambulances and police cars.  So far I haven't found anything in the news.  Anyone know what happened?

I don't know what happened but I did hear a loud crash/bang coming from the parking lot right before the ambulance showed up.  It was loud enough to wake me up. It sounded like something/someone fell or got ran into in the parking lot. I could only see the front of the ambulance from my window so couldn't see if they actually did take someone away in the ambulance.

[deskside]

It should be noted that these sorts of things happen to all projects.  If you are a first mover, you expect to deal with this stuff.  Even in the condo world, you deal with a lot of quirks if you move in before most people do.  This shouldn't dissuade people from taking a look at a topnotch project.

I thought this was a topnotch project but I'm not so sure of that anymore.  I hung paintings last weekend and now I know how badly this place was constructed.  2 X 4's are not located and spaced in a normal manner.  Walls aren't level.  The sheetrock and wallboard has to be some of the cheapest I've ever experienced.  A small nail can make the wall crumble.  I resorted to using the adhesive holders but they don't hold some of my heavier pieces. What I did manage to get hung up on nails I fear will come crashing down.

I wanted cement floors because I'm allergic to most carpets but these floors are deplorable.  Stains of unknown nature, yellow caution paint strips, cracks, pits (quarter size) and dirt that just won't come up. I keep shoes on at all times.  I dread when my grandson comes over as I really don't want him playing on these floors.

There's a hole in the wall leading from my apartment to the next apartment that is brick size.

Maybe they had planned for this to be a topnotch project but with all the unforeseen situations that took place standards got lowered along the way. 

But, with all that said things are improving.  They now have security which should have been in place from the very beginning.  The parking garage has opened. Exercise room is open. Mail room is open.

Their management team is working with me and communicating with me again finally.  They are a good team that just got overwhelmed so the good customer service I experienced in the beginning is starting to surface again...yea! 

Hopefully this developer will never use the out of area subcontractors that were used again.  And, he should realize to do anything in KC it helps a lot to hire 100% local contractors/subcontractors.  Some people say it's all politics but they are the ones that don't understand KC history.  The loyalty comes from the depression when the KC construction world helped each other survive the depression.  Those family companies (now corporations still ran by family members)  gave jobs to or in many cases gave the money for starting new or keeping afloat the companies that were going under. You wonder why you see the same contractors on each project?....they either were the receiver of help or giver of help during the depression. The thanking still goes on today.  And, these companies that were helped most still go out of their way to help new companies starting up in KC. I guess you just have to keep it in KC 100% to make a topnotch project around here.

[bruce]

I just want to chime in and say that I am really happy with my unit here. It's really nice and whenever people come over they just gush about how cool it is. I love it a lot. I am not a nit-picker though.

[deskside]

I just want to chime in and say that I am really happy with my unit here. It's really nice and whenever people come over they just gush about how cool it is. I love it a lot. I am not a nit-picker though.

That's nice to hear your happy with your unit. But, I think I can be a "nitpicker" when I'm paying $1,200.00 a month for this place.  And, a brick sized hole in the wall that looks into the next apartment; stained floors; windows that leak; and no windows that open I don't consider being nit-picky.

I have heard though that some units are not facing any problems and others, like mine, have multiple problems.

I still think eventually this will be a great place to live.   I do fear that with the lobby couches being stolen they may be hesitant to continue decorating the common areas which could have made this a very nice looking place to live. They also do need to be more careful on who they are letting rent here and keep a better watch on who is hanging around the building or this place is going to go downhill on them real fast.

[phna]

I'm paying $1,200.00 a month for this place.

You could get a decent house with a payment like that.

[moderne]

Who wants a house?

[phna]

Who wants a house?

Anyone who wants to:

have ownership,
build equity instead of paying rent,
improve credit rating,
live in the urban core,
be creative,
solve their own problems rather than bitch to the landlord,
be a part of a neighborhood community or possibly own a historic structure...

and if you get a zero lot line, you have no lawn maintenance either.

True, it's not for everyone or problem free, however, if willing one can get more sq. foot/dollar and much better
return for money.

[staubio]

Anyone who wants to:

have ownership,
build equity instead of paying rent,
improve credit rating,
live in the urban core,
be creative,
solve their own problems rather than bitch to the landlord,
be a part of a neighborhood community or possibly own a historic structure...

and if you get a zero lot line, you have no lawn maintenance either.

True, it's not for everyone or problem free, however, if willing one can get more sq. foot/dollar and much better
return for money.

I do all of that and I don't have a house.

[kcmetro]

I do all of that and I don't have a house.

I bet you can't play your music as loud as you want though or BBQ in your backyard. 

[moderne]

I owned traditional homes for 20 years.  Wish there had been condo alternatives available in this town years ago.  I can never replace all those hours spent on maintenance.  All those nice days spent in the yard looking down at the ground instead of having fun.  Traditional free standing house with yard=anti urban & anti environment.  Instead of being chained to my fortress domain I can enjoy urban interaction 24/7. 

[phna]

I bet you can't play your music as loud as you want though or BBQ in your backyard.

How much you betting? I'll invite you to the BBQ so you can pay up! 

Traditional free standing house with yard=anti urban & anti environment

zero lot line, no yard just a garden. I agree, Homes that were built with the suburban codes don't fit with the Urban environment. And KC needs to change the 50ft frontage code for urban areas.



Anyways back to the topic. Maybe cold storage needs a renters association to deal with all the issues that have been mentioned in with this thread. One of the maintenance guys told me that Cold Storage has 220 apartments!

[deskside]

How much you betting? I'll invite you to the BBQ so you can pay up! 

Maybe cold storage needs a renters association to deal with all the issues that have been mentioned in with this thread. One of the maintenance guys told me that Cold Storage has 220 apartments!

I'm new to the rental scene as I've owned homes for 24 years.  I never even thought about a renter's association.  I always tried to avoid purchasing where there were HOAs but a rental association may be just what is needed. Are there some sort of Missouri bylaws governing how a rental association is started and managed?

[phna]

Are there some sort of Missouri bylaws governing how a rental association is started and managed?

I don't know, anybody else? Maybe you just need to start at the grass roots with a letter stuck under others doors and try to get some feed back and work from there?

[maec55]

I thought the pool was supposed to open over Memorial Day weekend. Any word on that front?

As for a renter's association - nothing official is really needed. Just people willing to show up to talk.

Personally, I think one would be great simply to get to know other neighbors. I moved in two months ago and really have only met people in passing.

[scooterj]

I thought the pool was supposed to open over Memorial Day weekend. Any word on that front?

When I was up looking at the pool while visiting my brother a maintenance worker told me the city was being difficult about giving them the health permit to open the pool.

[trailerkid]

PS...

The bus system sucks, a friend and I went on various weekend journeys to see what popular places the bus would take us.

Would you do this in any other city? I sure as hell wouldn't. I've done it before because i'm familiar enough with KCMO, but it's pretty boneheaded to just hop on buses not knowing how/when you'll get back. They have schedules for a reason.

BTW, if you take the minnesota or quindaro bus from downtown to indian springs, you can transfer on the state ave. bus and easily get to Village West-- even on saturdays, have to check on sundays. I'm not sure what schedule you were looking at or if you were looking at one to begin with.

[FangKC]

Well, I will say this. The Cold Storage Lofts look nice with the apartments lit up at night when driving across the Heart of America bridge.

[kcdcchef]

  Maybe cold storage needs a renters association to deal with all the issues that have been mentioned in with this thread. One of the maintenance guys told me that Cold Storage has 220 apartments!

i started a renters association at an apartment building i was at in dc. they kept bullshitting us every spring about getting the air conditioning going, saying they were within their legal rights to not make it available until may 15th. wow, what a crock. we formed a tenants association, and every tenant signed up, 172 of us, and we brought legal action against them, and wow, how much things improved. for one, the dc law was clear, anyone living at a rental property had the right to make their rental property 20 degrees colder then the outside temp, provided the outside temp was above 70.

almost like unionizing. can be effective at times.

[scooterj]

My brother no longer likes his place.  When he first moved in he had no neighbors.  He has neighbors now. They are very noisy and the walls are apparently paper thin.  He was actually awakened one morning by the sound of his neighbor having diarrhea, so you can imagine how unpleasant of a wake-up that was.