KCRag Forum

It's a shame the city let car wash go in on Main. I bet MAC would have developed the old car dealership if it were still there now.

beautyfromashes wrote:It's a shame the city let car wash go in on Main. I bet MAC would have developed the old car dealership if it were still there now.

the good news is that a car wash (at least one as horrible as that) could not open on that stretch of main street today, since there is a pedestrian overlay in place now.

DaveKCMO wrote: the good news is that a car wash (at least one as horrible as that) could not open on that stretch of main street today, since there is a pedestrian overlay in place now.

That doesn't make me feel much better. Lost building and an eyesore. At least it can't happen that way again, I suppose.

brewcrew1000 wrote:I was in Chicago a couple weeks ago and took an Uber. Got to talking to the driver who lived in Hyde Park in Chicago and mentioned MAC Properties, the driver happened to live in a MAC property and generally liked them but it seems like the surrounding neighborhood in Hyde Park Chicago generally dislikes MAC Properties because they are driving up prices while it seems like the neighbors in Hyde Park KC generally favor them.

Many blocks of Hyde Park (where I briefly lived 20+ years ago) resemble the 'Green Gables' Nelle Peters buildings just demolished on the Plaza. Look at the 5300 block of Greenwood, for example. Other blocks have single-family homes, like Woodlawn. Hyde Park was mostly built since the 1890s and is more or less original, except for the UC expansion over the years. Much of the 1950s-60s federal urban renewal dollars allocated for the south side of Chicago were absorbed there, rather than the slightly older (1880s), marginal neighborhoods like Oakland or Englewood, which look bombed-out.

It's only a matter of time before Hyde Park and Kenwood re-merge with the residential growth moving south from the Loop. The area between 35th and 47th east of the Dan Ryan will eventually gentrify.

beautyfromashes wrote:

DaveKCMO wrote: the good news is that a car wash (at least one as horrible as that) could not open on that stretch of main street today, since there is a pedestrian overlay in place now.

That doesn't make me feel much better. Lost building and an eyesore. At least it can't happen that way again, I suppose.

Their land (they have the empty lot to the south too) is worth as much as the MAC project's land right now.

The wildcard is the storage space to their north. When both buildings get renovated property values will skyrocket on their land. There's room for a 15-25x improvement in value between them if the buildings weren't just empty space for storage. It's stupid low right now.

How much more in property taxes can they afford before a car wash isn't profitable? Keep in mind that this is a business reliant on low cost of operations. When you have an optional service and compete with someone with a bucket of water doing a fundraiser you can only raise prices so much.

What I really don't understand is that they could have kept the building and still had the car wash. It was a car dealership with a drive through service bay in the back that was more than large enough for the car wash mechanics. I hope what you are saying is right, but I can't imagine it takes much to make money on a car wash after the sunk cost of construction. Water, soap and a $10/hour flagger is a low operational cost.

Investors have historically put car washes on land they buy as investment/speculation, so that they produce a little income while they wait for the land to increase in value.

^^ and they tear down the old structures so they don't have to the tax costs in the interim?

I assumed all car washes are money laundering fronts for former chemistry teachers turned Meth dealer.

Whoau whoau whoau whoau whoau car wash yeah.

I noticed today that fencing is up around the new construction site on Main St. Looks like work could be starting soon.

Fence has been up for a week or two. I think I read that they were shooting for a really quick construction time (finished by the end of the year?). All of the units are built off site and they are just lifted, completed, into place.

grovester wrote:

KCMO won't add bike lanes because they don't want deal with Hyde Park and the inevitable parking, uh, discussion. The city has a $600k grant to spend on this and right now only plan on repainting the sharrows.

Well that's messed up.

Welcome back BTW.

Update: it turns out that KCMO won't add protected bike lanes on Armour because Public Works doesn't want them. Old Hyde Park, Squier Park, and Hyde Park have teamed up to press the city on the issue, but from what I heard tonight it's turned into a huge fight.

chaglang wrote:

grovester wrote:

KCMO won't add bike lanes because they don't want deal with Hyde Park and the inevitable parking, uh, discussion. The city has a $600k grant to spend on this and right now only plan on repainting the sharrows.

Well that's messed up.

Welcome back BTW.

Update: it turns out that KCMO won't add protected bike lanes on Armour because Public Works doesn't want them. Old Hyde Park, Squier Park, and Hyde Park have teamed up to press the city on the issue, but from what I heard tonight it's turned into a huge fight.

Bike lanes will be discussed at the next OHP neighborhood meeting on the 20th. Unfortunately, I'll be at the Royals game then.

Perhaps I am offbase, but shouldn't Public Works just build what they're told to build? Unless something is feasibly or economically impossible, I don't see why they're even giving input, let alone stopping projects.

TheBigChuckbowski wrote:Perhaps I am offbase, but shouldn't Public Works just build what they're told to build? Unless something is feasibly or economically impossible, I don't see why they're even giving input, let alone stopping projects.

Because staff runs KC government. The amount of legislating from the bureaucracy at City hall is staggering.

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TheBigChuckbowski wrote:Perhaps I am offbase, but shouldn't Public Works just build what they're told to build? Unless something is feasibly or economically impossible, I don't see why they're even giving input, let alone stopping projects.

What's really bizarre is that the remedy I've heard most often tossed around isn't "Let's wrest the power out of the hands of Public Works". It's "Let's see if we can get a new department head who is more progressive".

Has anyone seen the row of collonades on Wyandotee iust south of ARmour. Delightfully redone and coordinated. Surround by decorative vegetal wrought iron security fencing As charming as anything in the NOLA Garden District. One sixplex is called the Yardbird suites in honor of the time Charlie Parker lived there.I really wish infill might adopt a model of 3 story walk up 6 plexz collonades slightly enlarged to include expected for modern liveing such as washer dryers in units 'walik in closets and pantrys and two bathrooms. and of course secure parking with carports.And of course those airy large outdoor balcony summer sleeping spots.

Moderne, that would be a good model of infill that would fill the "in the middle" housing that is so lacking in the City. It's dense, but not overwhelmingly so.