KCRag Forum

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grovester wrote:The state, in fact, did not balk. Grietens did, for reasons unrelated.
Comparing the 2 projects on lump sum dollar figures is pretty silly.

The state isn't going to help. Game Over there.

And comparing the 2 projects on lump sum dollars is not silly at all.
What's silly is pretending that pianos, an organ and/or acoustical engineering makes up the $50mil gap on a much smaller and infinitely shorter building. Or pretending that academic leadership doesn't ever sometimes pad it's own pockets.
Accountability is a 2 way street.

Sorry, didn't know you had it all figured out.

NorthOak wrote: One Light is a 25 floor luxury apartment building built in the heart of downtown built for roughly $80 million.
This is a 3 floor educational facility in a much lower density area with already cleared, also donated land.
Yes, we are all aware that there are acoustic and performance requirements and beautiful finishes used in the design which raise the cost substantially, and the funding endowment, but there is still a huge discrepancy in the actual cost of the building and the $96 million price tag. The total cost of grand pianos is a drop in the bucket. This project is priced to include a 25 floor student market housing project. But it doesn't.

A 13 floor KU Hospital tower had $237 million in construction costs. Was that just greedy hospital executives wasting money? or maybe commercial and specialized uses cost a lot more than residential developments? I mean you have seen the quality of glass they used on one light, right?

It's a 1/4 the cost of the Kauffman center. A fifth if you factor in inflation.

Also, the conservatory is supposed to be a 4 story 165,000 sqft building. Thats not tiny. The PAC is 285,000 square feet.

kboish wrote: A 13 floor KU Hospital tower had $237 million in construction costs. Was that just greedy hospital executives wasting money? or maybe commercial and specialized uses cost a lot more than residential developments? I mean you have seen the quality of glass they used on one light, right?

See this is what I'm talking about. It's hard to have an honest conversation on here.
That is a 558,570-square-foot healthcare building, and you're trying to jam it into this discussion.
This is what's in the KU Tower...

...the new tower will house KU Hospital’s fastest growing specialties, neurosciences, surgical oncology, and ear, nose and throat. Phase-one construction on the new facility, known as Cambridge North, also includes a lower service level and a street level with such public-access services as admitting, cafeteria, gift shop, retail pharmacy and meeting areas.
It devotes the tower’s second floor to imaging services and staff support areas. Level three will house 11 operating rooms. Level four will hold mechanical and electrical systems, as will two more levels above the 11th floor.

Do you know how expensive hospital treatment, research equipment and 1st floor retail is?
The KU healthcare building is not a comparison.

From what we know so far, there is nothing intrinsically that different from One Light and UMKC's building that would make these comparable in construction costs - nothing. Factor in that UMKC claims their building is more expensive to build and this becomes suspect. $96 million for this...

That's a multi story structure the size of a city block, the cost of land, the removal of the previous buildings. You have to look at the project as a whole, not just the buildings. Just focusing on the building you're immediately thinking smaller than the project scope.

I also find it funny you're complaining about price with a low quality two color drawing. This building could be made of stone or real brick (not veneer)

My only point is I don't see any value in comparing the construction of a conservatory and educational facility with that of a residential high rise. They are different. Apparently that is clear enough when comparing a hospital to a residential high rise (which was my earlier point, contrary to the way it was taken), but for some reason doesn't hold for the residential to educational facility. A more appropriate comparison (maybe) is the new Bloch school building constructed a few years ago at a cost of $32 million for less than 60,000 sqft.

Now if your point is the design should be better or they should add student housing, then ok. But, if your point is there is a cabal of education administrators that is inflating prices to line their pockets... i'm skeptical.

Every major donor, foundation, and charitable organization in the city vetted and backed this project. I don't know all the cost details, but no offense, wild speculation by the anonymous internets isn't where i'm getting my take on this one.

On top of that, the state used to fund construction of ALL educational buildings, if i'm not mistaken. They wanted the private sector to get involved so created a 50/50 matching program. KC did their part and came up with the funds, the state legislator did their part and approved the match, and then only one man, the governor, decided this was not a good idea. And worse yet his motive is entirely political- not fiscal. Thats some BS.

http://kcur.org/post/um-system-presiden ... y#stream/0

"Our goal is not to borrow the money, it's going to require some public-private partnerships, some innovative ways for us to think about this project. It may actually mean descoping the project from it's current budget of $100 million ... lowering the overall cost of the project. That may come through by reducing the footprint, reducing some of the programming, or it may come from the public private-partnership that we are also considering."

"My feeling is that it is going to get done. It's going to take some work, it may take a little bit longer than expected, but it's going to get done."

Anything on this project?

I think alot of focus has been on the airport recently. Nothing yet

ldai_phs wrote:I think alot of focus has been on the airport recently. Nothing yet

I expected nothing new until they had the money part figured out. Clearly that hasn't happened.

Announcements coming soon. Project will be bigger and better per City Manager

Good to hear this still has traction. This will be big for downtown and KC as a whole.

ldai_phs wrote:Announcements coming soon. Project will be bigger and better per City Manager

Yes! Thanks for posting.

If Greitens resigns in disgrace, can we go back and try to get matching funding for this, or has that ship already sailed?

tower wrote:If Greitens resigns in disgrace, can we go back and try to get matching funding for this, or has that ship already sailed?

Sounds to me like they found something bigger and better without the state

Hey, it can always get bigger-er and better-er. It may be ineligible if they attach a private developer or something, though.

So what's the bet on how it's growing? Affordable/student housing above? Raising educational spaces and leaving the street level for commercial?

I can't imagine they're just expanding the building program from before Greitens-gate.