UMKC: Oak Street West Development

[voltopt]

not 50 years ago.  but now....  are they going to compact the new soil/debris mix?

[AndrewN]

they have to fill it with something.  Those buildings have a VERY deep basement level.  Coupled with the garage they would have one massive hole to fill.

[Long]

is this unusual?

It doesn't seem as common as it used to be.

At the P&L district, it looked to me like they not only hauled off every bit of the buildings they tore down, they also dug up all the old foundations and fill that had been buried under surface lot for however many years.  I suppose the issue there could have been improperly compacted fill, so their only option was to dig it up. 

[ReutherMonkey]

^As far as demolition goes, the only currently visible changes ar that the lower windows have all been covered with plywood, a chain-link fence has been drawn around the entire property, and the windows are being removed from the top down. I imagine would hope that they are trying to salvage at least some of the building materials.

Sers!
It looks like the only thing that they're salvaging are doors. They've got a bunch of em stacked in the parking lot of the north building. It's a damn shame, I was down there today and it looked so sad. I spent 3 good years at twin oaks, and it almost brought a tear to my eye to see it being gutted like that.

[Highlander]

It has begun.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/16503887.htm

Surprised by the wrecking ball.  Figured this was a candidate for implosion a la Wayne Minor.

[scooterj]

They couldn't implode it due to a massive sewer line that runs direcctly beneath the site.

[graciaspinheads]

This is a terrible loss to the SE Plaza density. I loved these buildings.
UMKC's campus looks like it might as well be in the middle of Warrensburg.
This was the last and only vestige of urbanity about the whole thing and they've now destroyed it.

[WinchesterMysteryHouse]

That "Twin Oaks" signage is salvagable!  So cool. 

[Tosspot]

I always thought Twin Oaks looked like some cockamamie "Radiant City" Le Corbusier conception. It was single use and ringed by parking lots. Just because it was tall doesn't make it necessarily urban.

[moderne]

  Not so single use.  Had a restaurant at one time and also a hair salon!

[voltopt]

They couldn't implode it due to a massive sewer line that runs direcctly beneath the site.

a massive sewer line known as the creek that gave "brookside" its name.  its the watershed for a large area, all the way up to meyer boulevard.

[beccanator]

Some pictures I took the other day:

[kucer]

Can someone explain why there is a Bobcat in the steel framed box that's hanging from the crane? Is it actually going in the building to do demo on each floor??

[kcmetro]

Can someone explain why there is a Bobcat in the steel framed box that's hanging from the crane? Is it actually going in the building to do demo on each floor??

Probably some young punks just screwin' around. 

[chrizow]

Can someone explain why there is a Bobcat in the steel framed box that's hanging from the crane? Is it actually going in the building to do demo on each floor??

sometimes work crews suspend equipment in the air so vandals can't access them overnight or on the weekend.

[kucer]

you're probably right, chriz. we drove by this weekend and the steel box was just on the ground empty attached to the crane and we couldn't figure out what they were doing with it.

[beccanator]

Can someone explain why there is a Bobcat in the steel framed box that's hanging from the crane? Is it actually going in the building to do demo on each floor??

I took the picture at about 15:00 and was quite amused that there was a Bobcat hanging from the crane. There was a guy (not pictured) securing the bobcat to the framed box. It seems that they had, in fact, been using the bobcat inside the building to knock down non-weight-bearing walls.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Yeah - I think this is indeed for the bobcat to get in and out of the building.  Notice how they have knocked out bobcat-sized holes on every floor.  If it was just to secure it from theives/vandals why would they keep it right up against the building instead of letting it hang out in the open where it would be safer?

[im2kull]

I just wish they would replace it with something a little taller.. 

[ReutherMonkey]

I just wish they would replace it with something a little taller.. 

and prettier, and which was a better use of space.