Film Row building threatened with demolition

[pash]

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[FangKC]

I don't think it was ever supposed to incorporate retail, at ground level or otherwise. Helix's rendering definitely shows a garage and nothing else. ... There are no ameliorating features.

Shirley Helzberg owned the Orion Building. She directed the historic building's demise, and now she is orchestrating its future: a one-story retail structure with three floors of parking that she hopes will boost her Webster House restaurant and antique shop across the street. (She also owns Film Row's Vitagraph Film Exchange Building, home to the Kansas City Symphony's offices.)

http://www.pitch.com/kansascity/crossro ... id=3273224

The Orion Pictures building at 17th and Wyandotte streets was demolished Monday despite opposition by preservationists who said it was an integral part of the historic Film Row District.

The building at 118 W. 17th Street in the Crossroads Arts District was razed by philanthropist Shirley Helzberg to make way for a three-level garage that will have 185 spaces and retail on the ground floor.

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/04/22/41 ... s-old.html

Shirley Helzberg, the owner and developer of the historic Webster House, a former 1880s school, plans to demolish the Orion building and replace it with a $5 million parking garage.

Helzberg, who is known for her historic preservation work, said additional parking is needed to serve both the restaurant and antique businesses at Webster House and the nearby Vitagraph Film Exchange Building, which she also renovated.

The planned three-level garage would have 185 spaces and retail on the ground floor.

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/03/08/41 ... unday.html

[pash]

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[chingon]

I drove by and it looked like there was a very small retail (or at least finished interior) component on the east end of the first floor. Seemed very awkward. Redeemable only if it is a re-opening of the Stables in its pre-gaybar incarnation.

[pash]

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[FangKC]

The news articles say three floors of parking. There is that glassed in area on the street-level that could be the retail space, and it has three levels of parking above it (including the roof).

[chingon]

Have you seen the architectural rendering (click "Art Park")? There's a stairway that descends in the middle of the block on the east side. Is that what you've noticed, or is there actually something else being built north of the garage?

That might be what I noticed. The glass to the west of the stairwell on the first floor. It looked like there was a framed and finished space inside but maybe its payment kiosks or something. Either way, disaster.

[KCMax]

Huzzah! The new parking garage is open! And it is glorious!

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... opens.html

[KCMax]

I drove by and it looked like there was a very small retail (or at least finished interior) component on the east end of the first floor. Seemed very awkward. Redeemable only if it is a re-opening of the Stables in its pre-gaybar incarnation.

FWIW, the article says 3000 sq feet of retail.

[DaveKCMO]

FWIW, the article says 3000 sq feet of retail.

... in a cave.

[longviewmo]

A year later. The retail space remains empty, and the garage, well, these were taken on a Friday evening:

[FangKC]

It would be an interesting exercise for someone to go around noon, and in the early evening every day for a year and take photos of that garage to see how many cars are parked in it each day. Then, depending on the outcome, show those photos to city leaders who helped fund this garage. Hell, you might be able to get a good idea just by doing it for a month in winter, and a month in summer, and it would basically illustrate how frequently the garage is used, and how many cars actually use it.

If the garage does sit empty most of the time, it would be illustrative for city residents to see that it was a mistake to demolish a building that could have been renovated instead of building an empty garage.

I don't know if this is possible, but it with technology these days, it seems there should be a device that measures usage of a garage each day and presents a report of results for the City to see if the garage is utilized enough to support the incentives or not.

Otherwise, it would have to be someone who works, and probably lives, in the neighborhood, to take on this task.

However, if the UMKC Conservatory gets built down the street, it will probably get used.

[joshmv]

loopnet link for the retail space

http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Li ... D=18318573

[smh]

loopnet link for the retail space

http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Li ... D=18318573

$22/sqft seems quite high for the basement of a parking garage.

[flyingember]

loopnet link for the retail space

http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Li ... D=18318573

$22/sqft seems quite high for the basement of a parking garage.

loopnet says $13.75 is the average for the city.
http://www.loopnet.com/Missouri/Kansas- ... al-Estate/

there's retail space below $10/sq foot inside the crossroads

[smh]

loopnet link for the retail space

http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Li ... D=18318573

$22/sqft seems quite high for the basement of a parking garage.

loopnet says $13.75 is the average for the city.
http://www.loopnet.com/Missouri/Kansas- ... al-Estate/

there's retail space below $10/sq foot inside the crossroads

Exactly. I don't see anyone pay $59k/mo. for a low-ceiling space in the Crossroads. But who knows.

[flyingember]

Exactly. I don't see anyone pay $59k/mo. for a low-ceiling space in the Crossroads. But who knows.

per year.
it's $4950 per month.

And it's now on month 17 of being empty with more retail slowly coming online

[DaveKCMO]

FYI the Webster Garage received no public subsidy of any kind. The arts district garage across the street, however, was completely financed by the city.

[smh]

Exactly. I don't see anyone pay $59k/mo. for a low-ceiling space in the Crossroads. But who knows.

per year.
it's $4950 per month.

And it's now on month 17 of being empty with more retail slowly coming online

Oh man, I was way off on that calculation. Thanks for the correction.

[FangKC]

Sorry Dave, I have a hard time keeping up with which project gets city subsidies, and which don't. My bad.