KCRag Forum

ok, with solid information, I'm now seriously interested in this. I need to get back into that neighborhood for photos sometime soon. I liked it last time but didn't have much time. the cemetary + old homes makes for an interesting combination.

I've never met Bob Frye but he moved way up in my book.

There's no way this isn't a big deal for that area.

if you ever have a chance ask him about the streetcar. given how much of the phase 2 study involves this area it would be nice to know his view

If someone has a clear idea of everything that was said, it'd be nice to add this to the ongoing development thread.

It is known what architecture firm is designing the new structures?

On one of the kiva permits it lists NSPJ ARCHITECTS as the applicant.

http://www.nspjarch.com

NSPJ also did Briarcliff Village Apartments, Townsend Place and Kirkwood on the Country Club Plaza, and The Village at Mission Farms (Overland Park) mixed use and apartments.

Briarcliff Village



Townsend Place



Kirkwood on the Plaza



http://www.kirkwoodkc.com/phase_1/images/phase_1.jpg



Village at Mission Farms

I hope that someday Crown Center will put up some high-rise buildings on the scale of Townsend Place (on the Plaza) along the west side of Gillham Road between E. 27th and 29th streets, and eventually do the same on the east side of Gillham for the same stretch of blocks.

KEM Studio just shared an awesome rendering of a building called 29 Gillham they've designed as what I suspect to be part of this larger development.

Medium density, 22 units, does not appear to have street level commercial, but rather ground floor residential units.

Located at the corner of 29th and Gillham, across from Greenlease.

EDIT: Also, don't know how I didn't say this, but by "share" I mean they shared it on facebook.

FangKC wrote:NSPJ also did Briarcliff Village Apartments, Townsend Place and Kirkwood on the Country Club Plaza, and The Village at Mission Farms (Overland Park) mixed use and apartments.

Briarcliff Village

I'm not a fan of the way the Briarcliff buildings are essentially pad site buildings forced onto a hillside via massive MSE walls. It seems they could have done a better job incorporating the hillside into the designs in a way that added value and was more aesthetically pleasing than 20 vertical feet of blocks.

smh wrote:KEM Studio just shared an awesome rendering of a building called 29 Gillham they've designed as what I suspect to be part of this larger development.

Medium density, 22 units, does not appear to have street level commercial, but rather ground floor residential units.

Located at the corner of 29th and Gillham, across from Greenlease.

EDIT: Also, don't know how I didn't say this, but by "share" I mean they shared it on facebook.

Bad design.

Not tall enough.

No street retail.

and so forth

Looks fine to me for its location.

Nice! So that would be on the lot where the Longfellow's Farmers' Market formerly was.

They had this rendering on their Facebook page, although I don't think they ever had any real plans:

chingon wrote:Bad design.

Not tall enough.

No street retail.

and so forth

why do they need street retail on a residential building 1 block away from commercial street?

it just would hurt the density to make that street thrive

This project is for real. I was contacted to do aerials for them and turned them down because I'm not in KC anymore. This is an amazing project, I hope they can get it done.

GRID wrote:This project is for real. I was contacted to do aerials for them and turned them down because I'm not in KC anymore. This is an amazing project, I hope they can get it done.

Awesome. I'm kind of floored by this news. Am I missing something obvious or is this not a really big deal for the urban core?

chingon wrote:

GRID wrote:This project is for real. I was contacted to do aerials for them and turned them down because I'm not in KC anymore. This is an amazing project, I hope they can get it done.

Awesome. I'm kind of floored by this news. Am I missing something obvious or is this not a really big deal for the urban core?

It does seem peculiar that there has been no press.

smh wrote:It does seem peculiar that there has been no press.

It's a nice taste of what it's like in other cities where development like this is just business as usual.

GRID wrote:This project is for real. I was contacted to do aerials for them and turned them down because I'm not in KC anymore. This is an amazing project, I hope they can get it done.

Nice. I wish that they would provide some more renders.

Lots of surveying and utility relocation work going on throughout the neighborhood the last few days.

This is great. I was sad to see the old brick apartment building(s) in Union Hill be torn down, but I am glad it was part of a comprehensive, high-quality infill project. Union Hill was already quite solid, and this will take it to the next level and spill north on Gillham and into Longfellow where some new energy is much-needed.