UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Discuss items in the urban core outside of Downtown as described above. Everything in the core including the east side (18th & Vine area), Northeast, Plaza, Westport, Brookside, Valentine, Waldo, 39th street, & the entire midtown area.
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rxlexi
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by rxlexi »

Wish this part of town could get a true Mexi-counter/taco stand - ala KCK joints.
cancun fiesta fresh in Westport is pretty close; not-bad street tacos, lots of meat options, tiny little storefront with a couple tables outside.

I always thought some kind of small brewpub would have done insanely well in the space where Sahara is now...umkc area needs something like that.  Also totally random thought, but wow the harsh lighting and emptiness of Sahara depresses me every time I pass by.  I feel like a lot more could have been done with that prime space right off campus...
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by Pastense »

ignatius wrote: Sounds like yet another gringo joint in the city.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/taco-factory-kansas-city-2

Wish this part of town could get a true Mexi-counter/taco stand - ala KCK joints.
Some things don't travel well out of their habitat. I'm happy to drive to KCK. Part of the enjoyment is participating in the whole community.
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by scooterj »

UMKC's Oak Place Apartments will soon be torn down. (Already.)

https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/um ... apartments
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by normalthings »

With the streetcar coming soon, UMKC is developing a new campus master plan that will be officially rolled out this fall. The first project to be announced is the demolition of "Oak Place Apartments" and a small retail/parking strip. The apartments didn't front the adjacent trail or new streetcar at all so it is great to see them go. A large new retail/housing development, similar to Brookside 51 just to the south, will be built where Oak Place was. No timeline for the new project has been given but I think it will happen sooner rather than later as they have been in a big hurt for more student housing.
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by Steve52 »

Well things couldn't get much worse could it? With such high quality construction being performed these days?

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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by JLowe2018 »

normalthings wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2020 2:32 am With the streetcar coming soon, UMKC is developing a new campus master plan that will be officially rolled out this fall. The first project to be announced is the demolition of "Oak Place Apartments" and a small retail/parking strip. The apartments didn't front the adjacent trail or new streetcar at all so it is great to see them go. A large new retail/housing development, similar to Brookside 51 just to the south, will be built where Oak Place was. No timeline for the new project has been given but I think it will happen sooner rather than later as they have been in a big hurt for more student housing.
I'm a student at UMKC and hadn't heard of a campus master plan update...when you say "rolled out this fall", do you mean a completed master plan will be unveiled then or the public phase of the planning process will begin then?
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by normalthings »

JLowe2018 wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2020 11:04 am
normalthings wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2020 2:32 am With the streetcar coming soon, UMKC is developing a new campus master plan that will be officially rolled out this fall. The first project to be announced is the demolition of "Oak Place Apartments" and a small retail/parking strip. The apartments didn't front the adjacent trail or new streetcar at all so it is great to see them go. A large new retail/housing development, similar to Brookside 51 just to the south, will be built where Oak Place was. No timeline for the new project has been given but I think it will happen sooner rather than later as they have been in a big hurt for more student housing.
I'm a student at UMKC and hadn't heard of a campus master plan update...when you say "rolled out this fall", do you mean a completed master plan will be unveiled then or the public phase of the planning process will begin then?
Oak Place will come down this summer. Campus Student Housing Study was authorized but I am unsure if it started. New campus master plan will be presented to the UMKC board in the fall.
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by KCtoBrooklyn »

It is unfortunate that two fairly large apartment developments on the same site have to be demolished within 15 years, but hopefully the new development will be an improvement over what is currently there. I hope whatever gets built there is the scale of Twin Oaks, or perhaps larger.
A key factor in our study will be the plan to extend the Kansas City Streetcar to the immediate vicinity of the site. That opens up new opportunities for development. One example would be a retail/housing combination similar to the UMKC Brookside 51 project, only with an emphasis on UMKC student housing.
This quote from the chancellor is encouraging.

Saying an "emphasis" on student housing makes me think there could be a possibility of a larger development that combines student housing with market rate. Maybe another twin tower development could be built, split between those two uses.

I will be curious to see what the new master plan says about the long-discussed developments on Troost. Since those will likely be a smaller scale and don't require much (if any) demo, maybe that will be built first to add some student housing more quickly while a larger plan for the Oak Street West site is formulated.
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by kcmiz »

UMKC has a real opportunity to transform itself with this project from a suburban quasi commuter school to a regionally competitive urban university with on campus student housing that’s connected to the urban fabric with the streetcar expansion. They could build 1000s of student housing units on this site, a demo who has little need for dedicated parking especially with streetcar.

The law school had a similar opportunity to up its game when the old courthouse downtown was available. The leadership didn’t seize that opportunity which could have dramatically improved its appeal to law students and improved its regional ranking.

UMKC don’t let another opportunity slip by! Think big, think tall!
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

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kcmiz wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2020 2:21 pm UMKC has a real opportunity to transform itself with this project from a suburban quasi commuter school to a regionally competitive urban university with on campus student housing that’s connected to the urban fabric with the streetcar expansion. They could build 1000s of student housing units on this site, a demo who has little need for dedicated parking especially with streetcar.

The law school had a similar opportunity to up its game when the old courthouse downtown was available. The leadership didn’t seize that opportunity which could have dramatically improved its appeal to law students and improved its regional ranking.

UMKC don’t let another opportunity slip by! Think big, think tall!
1. UMKC doesn't have to go that tall on the site to house alot of students. A buiding the size of Brookside 51 could hold around 700-900 students in dorm style housing.

2. Student housing and dining is usually a big money maker for colleges. UMKC has a big financial incentives to move students to "on campus" living options as soon and as much as possible. Other benefits included better residential life and thus higher rankings. During my time at UMKC, it seemed like almost every crime incident was related to students walking to off campus housing to the east/south. Moving students to on campus options may also help to reduce crime.

3. I had always hoped that the Keystone Innovation District would go along the streetcar. This area could be a great place to put in a tech incubator space with a few floors of larger tenant office space above. Some class room space could also be included in the building as well.
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by Chris Stritzel »

Such a strange circumstance that these buildings didn’t last that long. Hopefully they carry out their plan and make good of this site.
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

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A real black mark on Gould Evans and JE Dunn.
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by dukuboy1 »

sad that something built 10yrs ago was built so poorly that they have to tear it down now. My guess is they saw this as an opportunity as well. Excited to see there is a plan in place to really vitalize the area around there to create a better campus experience.

KC really needs to have a good "marquee" type of college to help take it to the next level. UMKC & Rockhurst have that ability and I hope they continue to grow and develop that. It's wonderful the Stowers Institute is there & Kauffman Foundation as well. KU Med has made huge strides.

More investment in those higher education institutions will bring new people to the region that can have a great ripple effect.

I'm not a fan either way of STL but I know that Wash U & SLU give them a great 1-2 punch to attract those high end residents, that create high end jobs etc. If KC can catch up even a little bit in that area it will give us one more feather in the cap and take a another rung up on the ladder to being the premier metro in MO. It's still long way to go and a lot of history that still has the political leaders in MO with their eyes to STL area. But the picture of KC in their peripheral vision keeps getting bigger & bigger
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by normalthings »

dukuboy1 wrote: Fri Mar 06, 2020 10:36 am
I'm not a fan either way of STL but I know that Wash U & SLU give them a great 1-2 punch to attract those high end residents, that create high end jobs etc. If KC can catch up even a little bit in that area it will give us one more feather in the cap and take a another rung up on the ladder to being the premier metro in MO. It's still long way to go and a lot of history that still has the political leaders in MO with their eyes to STL area. But the picture of KC in their peripheral vision keeps getting bigger & bigger
It is interesting: STL produces alot of top tier talent but almost none stays. KC produces none but gains a sizable amount. In fact, I remember seeing that KC attracts more top talent out of college then STL does.
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by earthling »

^All three sentences supported by various stats.
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by GRID »

I feel like UMKC Is just trying to do this location over and taking advantage of the situation to build a better project at the location. I'm sure the garage will stay, so it can't be as big of a loss as they are stating.
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by DaveKCMO »

GRID wrote: Fri Mar 06, 2020 2:02 pm I feel like UMKC Is just trying to do this location over and taking advantage of the situation to build a better project at the location. I'm sure the garage will stay, so it can't be as big of a loss as they are stating.
Agreed. With streetcar coming, that stretch could be so much better for walkability and density. Take down the 51st Street shops* while they're at it and make it one continuous urban village next to the city's only major university.

* Yes, I realize this will not be popular.
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by kcmiz »

Does the university own the strip center and old filling station?
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by DaveKCMO »

kcmiz wrote: Sat Mar 14, 2020 9:34 pm Does the university own the strip center and old filling station?
Strip, yes. Filling station, no.
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Re: UMKC: Oak Street West Development

Post by normalthings »

Whiting Turner selected for the demolition of Oak Place. They hope to get the demo done this summer.
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