KCRag Forum

FangKC wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 9:01 am I wouldn't be surprised if that happens.

CorneliusFB wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 12:35 pm UMKC still doesn’t own the entire corner. The old gas station is still privately owned. I also think the lawsuit/uncertainty over the dorms to the North caused some delays in their plans.

normalthings wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 1:15 pm Whats going on with the conservatory site?

AlkaliAxel wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 12:41 pm

CorneliusFB wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 12:35 pm UMKC still doesn’t own the entire corner. The old gas station is still privately owned. I also think the lawsuit/uncertainty over the dorms to the North caused some delays in their plans.

Right. This would be a private project. I don’t understand why we haven’t seen or heard of any plans on this corner for development. It’s prime location, should be an easy 5 story apartment atleast or just tear down the stores and rebuild with ground floor retail.

I really do think it would make a great corridor, right they juxtapositioned between the streetcar stop and university

CorneliusFB wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 2:05 pm

AlkaliAxel wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 12:41 pm

CorneliusFB wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 12:35 pm UMKC still doesn’t own the entire corner. The old gas station is still privately owned. I also think the lawsuit/uncertainty over the dorms to the North caused some delays in their plans.

Right. This would be a private project. I don’t understand why we haven’t seen or heard of any plans on this corner for development. It’s prime location, should be an easy 5 story apartment atleast or just tear down the stores and rebuild with ground floor retail.

I really do think it would make a great corridor, right they juxtapositioned between the streetcar stop and university

You understand development is not that easy right? The owner of the corner parcel probably has positive cash flow from the building lease (or operations if it’s an owner operator) and a very low basis in the property. They probably don’t want to sell because of the capital gains hit and their cash flow is meeting their current needs. Meanwhile, the UMKC board of trustees doesn’t want to overpay for the parcel because they aren’t ready for a larger development there, and they don’t want to sell their parcel to a developer because they don’t want to lose long term control of their portion of the site.

Just because a project looks great in the macro or theoretical sense, the unique property owner’s unique situation is ultimately what drives the ability to develop a property or not. That’s why development is really freaking slow. It’s not uncommon for property assemblages to take decades.

CorneliusFB wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 2:05 pm
You understand development is not that easy right? The owner of the corner parcel probably has positive cash flow from the building lease (or operations if it’s an owner operator) and a very low basis in the property. They probably don’t want to sell because of the capital gains hit and their cash flow is meeting their current needs. Meanwhile, the UMKC board of trustees doesn’t want to overpay for the parcel because they aren’t ready for a larger development there, and they don’t want to sell their parcel to a developer because they don’t want to lose long term control of their portion of the site.

Just because a project looks great in the macro or theoretical sense, the unique property owner’s unique situation is ultimately what drives the ability to develop a property or not. That’s why development is really freaking slow. It’s not uncommon for property assemblages to take decades.

AlkaliAxel wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 3:54 am I was walking by the intersection here at 51st & Brookside- which where the end of the streetcar will be. I was thinking that it would look really good if they built large several story apartments on top of the stores on the NE corner of 51st & Brookside (Kin Lin, Pride Cleaners, etc.) which is across the street from the Whole Foods project. That way you'd have the Whole Foods project on the left, and another project on the right side, creating a large dense small corridor leading up to either the streetcar stop or the school. They should zone for this in their plan.

They really should be heavily investing in this NE corner spot anyway because it's on the streetcar line and tons of students will be passing through daily.

chaglang wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:05 am You said didn't understand why development wasn't being proposed there. He gave you some possible reasons, as have others. No call for incivility.

Critical_Mass wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 12:08 pm

AlkaliAxel wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 3:54 am I was walking by the intersection here at 51st & Brookside- which where the end of the streetcar will be. I was thinking that it would look really good if they built large several story apartments on top of the stores on the NE corner of 51st & Brookside (Kin Lin, Pride Cleaners, etc.) which is across the street from the Whole Foods project. That way you'd have the Whole Foods project on the left, and another project on the right side, creating a large dense small corridor leading up to either the streetcar stop or the school. They should zone for this in their plan.

They really should be heavily investing in this NE corner spot anyway because it's on the streetcar line and tons of students will be passing through daily.

On the previous page of this thread was a June post by FangKC describing UMKC's plans for this spot, which included housing for 500 students + retail space. Link to Kevin Collison's CitySceneKC reporting of it at the time: https://cityscenekc.com/umkc-proposing- ... HDYYMKWUH0

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 1:29 pm UMKC owns everything north of Whole Foods. Old buildings (less than 10 years old) were torn down due to terrible water leaks after university sued contractor. In plans to rebuild for third buildings on those sites in a decade. Nothing announced.

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:00 pm It's probably not high on their priority list. They have to get that residential housing rebuilt where they demolished the faulty apartments to the north. They also have their plans to build the new conservatory and dance buildings.