New to KC....and moving to Freighthouse Lofts

[jackerton]

Im relocating to KC from Dallas, and my wife and I have rented a place at the freighthouse lofts.  I've read some bad reviews on it, and was curious about getting some feedback.  I've been to KC a few times already for work, and checked out some of the restaurants in the area (Jackstack, City Tavern).  I don't know anything about the area....

Are there any laid back, sports bar type places in the Xroads?
Is it safe?  I know there are always car break-ins...
Does it have great investment potential?? it seems that the area has really taken off
Is it a "walk around" type community?
Is there plenty to do other than go out to drink/eat??

Sorry to be so generic, I am totally clueless about the KC area.  I've tried to read this board a bit, but thought i would just post, and see what you guys thought.  Thanks for any help ya'll can offer.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Im relocating to KC from Dallas, and my wife and I have rented a place at the freighthouse lofts.  I've read some bad reviews on it, and was curious about getting some feedback.  I've been to KC a few times already for work, and checked out some of the restaurants in the area (Jackstack, City Tavern).  I don't know anything about the area....

Are there any laid back, sports bar type places in the Xroads?
Is it safe?  I know there are always car break-ins...
Does it have great investment potential?? it seems that the area has really taken off
Is it a "walk around" type community?
Is there plenty to do other than go out to drink/eat??

Sorry to be so generic, I am totally clueless about the KC area.  I've tried to read this board a bit, but thought i would just post, and see what you guys thought.  Thanks for any help ya'll can offer.

I am going to assume by Frieghthous Lofts, you mean the Freighthouse lofts at Stuart Hall; there are a few buildings down in the same cluster that all have confusing freighthouse names.  I have lived there since July and overall have been pretty satisfied.  I think they have had a few issues here and there with some of the younger crowd still trying to live the dorm life but we haven't had any issues along those lines.  You wouldn't figure that there would be too many 21-23 year olds that go out partying every night that can afford a four figure rent but aparently there are or they are roommating up.  That's a small minority though.  The majority of the building is a pretty nice mix of young professional couples and some older DINKS.  The landlord has been friendly and responsive and physically its a great building.  In answer to your direct questions:

Sports Bars - the closest things we have to sports bars in the xroads are Cashew and Bulldog.  Both are classy bars that happen to have some TVs rather than real sports bars.  For a true sports bar, you have to head up to Tanners inside the loop but its still a manageable walk. 

Safety - I haven't seen much of anything to make me nervous.  The freighthouse and western xroads probably have to be one of the quieter safer feeling areas downtown.  I walk around at night on a routine basis without much of a thought. 

Investment - I have to think this area and building is at least as promissing as any other downtown neighborhood if not a bit more so. 

non-eating/drinking activities in the area - the neighborhood is a cluster of many art galleries, there are some nice museums at Union Station/liberty memorial,  walking distance to the crown center mall, you will be a pretty reasonable walk from the P&L shopping/entertainment district when it opens. 

If you have any other questions or specifics feel free to ask or drop me a PM.

[jackerton]

Yes, it is Freighthouse Lofts at Stuart Hall

[LenexatoKCMO]

Yes, it is Freighthouse Lofts at Stuart Hall

Well, welcome to the building.  As I mentioned feel free to drop me a message if you have any more questions or want any other impressions. 

[tat2kc]

I lived in a loft building a block from Stuart Hall, jsut behind Jack Stack, for over 3 years before I bought my house.  I loved the area. Very safe, very walkable.  If I could afford to buy, we would have stayed in the area with no question.  It can't help but continue to improve. 

Of course, had I stayed in the Freighthouse, I would never had discovered Pendlelton Heights and my awesome street!

[Cyclops]

Thanks for any help ya'll can offer.

Yep, you're from Texas.    My wife is from Dallas also.

I don't live in the Freighthouse area , but were remodeling the building over on Main Street just to the east of Lydias/City Tavern/Jackstack. We'll be running our business out of there sometime later this summer... I hope. Personally, I think the Freighthouse district is an awesome area.  I sure hope it's a great investment area too for obvious reasons. From what I can tell there are several forumers on this site that live in the area. Lenexa and DaveKCMO are two of the more active posters who share a lot of great info. Be sure to check out the Freighthouse / Union Station bridge thread. That's going to add another great walkable option for all the folks in the Freighthouse district. You can get to Crown Center (shopping, restaurants, theatre, etc) in less than 10 minutes.

When you get settled, you can join the Crossroads Community Association and get to know some of the folks who live around there and meet a bunch of the business owners as well. You asked about crime and from what I've heard from the CCA officer who reports on crime, it's actually quite low IMO. I'm moving my business from the Westport area for some of those reasons.

http://www.crossroadscommunityassociation.org/

I'd say welcome to the area but I'm not quite moved in there yet either, so i'll just say welcome to KC!