KCRag Forum

That's a huge change for that immediate area, it's 100% retail/industrial today

Glad to read this, good spot, especially with a lot of residential just to the North, the older neighborhoods but all the Multi Family they build at the North end of Burlington. I could see this sparking more, especially infill development of Swift close by. There used to be bars and such in that area, that closed. Could be some new opportunities to create a tight little "entertainment district" around that area with what is already there and nearby place along Armour Rd. Might even spur something in the building that caught on fire and was tore down at corner of Swift & Armour just to the North. Good NKC to keep things going.

It'll really stand out in the NKC skyline.

Downtown NKC has retained it compact village feel for decades but any residential languished. Northgate Village is really too far distant to have much impact. Same with new residential distant on the other side of I-35. This will help and maybe get some residential in the empty lots on Burlington and the streetcar over the river could make sense.

Do they have drawings?

Looks like Graney Construction is moving into a new HQ right south of this land on Swift. Nice new employer for that corner. Should bring some foot traffic to the surrounding area. Not sure how many people are employed at the HQ specifically but they have listed 650 total employees worldwide

The Business Journal of Kansas City is reporting Star Development Corp. plans to build a four-story, 300-unit Class A apartment project on about 6 acres on Swift between 23rd and 25th streets. It's directly south of the CityView Apartments. This parcel is owned by the city, and formerly had a large apartment complex on it. The former apartment buildings were one-story I believe.

This is a $59 million investment that should be completed in 2023.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1462738 ... !1e3?hl=en

The former apartments spanned from Howell where the row homes are, over to N Oak and 32nd where the empty restaurant is and then south all the way over to the empty superblock.

I looks like it was torn out in the early 2000s, and already existed in 1959

The Business Journal is reporting Yarco Cos. will soon take possession of a parcel at 1007 Armour Road (near Linn Street) for development of 49 apartments. The site is just east of the N. Kansas City YMCA building.

Yarco plans to build a $10 million multifamily development — Gallery Lofts — with ground-floor gallery and artist studio space and 42 on-site surface parking stalls. Thirty-three of the 49 apartments will be set aside for affordable housing.

Location:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/1007+ ... 8488?hl=en

NKC finally starting to take off. It's too bad KCMO would not consider de-annexing the Harlem area to NKC. I could see NKC doing something really cool with that area because obviously KCMO has no real urban planners on their staff to do it themselves lol.

I can tell you why Harlem has not taken off. There are few banks or investment people willing to lend millions of dollars to a neighborhood that is sitting behind a levee near where two rivers meet -- that often are at risk of flooding. Especially in light of the fact that KCMO has plenty of other places on high land to build things.

It was not that many years ago where the Corps of Engineers was openly warning everyone in the Missouri River floodplain that the Gavin's Point Dam was at risk of failure due to large runoff from mountain snow, and unusually high rainfall in the entire Missouri River tributary zone. These conditions are only expected to get worse. Most of those upper MO River dams have not been fortified, or completely rebuilt, and I have yet to see any money forthcoming to do so.

My hometown came very close to flooding twice with the past 20 years, and three times in the past 30. On two of those occasions, big levees completely collapsed in multiple locations. On two of those occasions, water sat in most of the river bottom for six months after the flooding.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised developers have been able to get money to build apartments in the West Bottoms. If I were a financier, or developer, I would never build apartments there.

The only thing I can see being done in Harlem is a big park with baseball or soccer fields.

What would be the actual physical impact in KC if one (or more) of the giant mainstem MO river dams failed? Also the impact on the Nebraska nuclear energy plant?

It would depend on whether the Missouri was already flooding before the dam(s) failed. If the water had already been running high on the levees for a prolonged period, a dam failure like that would push enough water down the river valley to over-top the levees, and/or put pressure on levees-- especially where the river curves (think of the levee by Ameristar Casino for example).

A combination of events could cause much damage. Imagine if there was heavy rainfall and both the Kansas River and Missouri River was at full-bank flood stage. Streams can't empty into the rivers because of high water, so they back up into their channels and flood. This would cause flooding down Southwest Boulevard, and in the West Bottoms, Armourdale, and the Argentine neighborhoods. At the same time, imagine the dams upstream failing and pushing a high volume of water down the Missouri as it rounds the corner where the Kansas River empties into the Missouri. This could cause over-topping, or failure, of levees and flooding at the Downtown Airport, in North Kansas City, and the Fairfax District.

Regarding the nuclear plants, if the river was already high and flooding was already all around the plant, the plants could potentially fail if the upstream dams failed. Minimally, they would lose the ability to generate power. Worse case scenario would be loss of site power needed to cool the nuclear core.

https://money.cnn.com/2011/06/28/news/e ... /index.htm

St. Joseph has already recently been discussing moving their casino away from the river because it floods so frequently.

We dodged a bullet a few years back. At one point, I recall officials were worried that the Fairfax GM plant might flood.

FangKC wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:31 pm It would depend on whether the Missouri was already flooding before the dam(s) failed........................................
We dodged a bullet a few years back. At one point, I recall officials were worried that the Fairfax GM plant might flood.

Only local solution is to builder a taller wall.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... -3uuaSHMgE

normalthings wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:53 pm https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... -3uuaSHMgE

That is a really informative. Too bad we can't learn from our mistakes.

taxi wrote: ↑Tue Feb 09, 2021 12:33 pm

normalthings wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:53 pm https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... -3uuaSHMgE

That is a really informative. Too bad we can't learn from our mistakes.

We are spending $500 million as we speak to build taller walls in KC.

The remaining Kansas City Levees project includes improvements to ~17 miles of existing levees and floodwalls along the Kansas River in Kansas City, Kan. and Kansas City, Mo. This collaborative effort between USACE, the Kaw Valley Drainage District, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, and the City of Kansas City, Missouri will reduce the risk of flooding, improve the reliability and resiliency of the systems, strengthen aging infrastructure and ensure the levees and floodwalls perform during future flood events. The improvements will consist of levee and floodwall raises, replacements and repairs to existing pump stations, improvements to aging infrastructure and seepage and stability improvements. Our goal is to complete the $453M project by 2024. This final phase will complete nearly 15 years of construction on the system. Improvements are complete for the Fairfax/Jersey Creek, North Kansas City and East Bottoms Units along the Missouri River.

The Kansas City District is excited to announce the outcome of the Step 1 Advertisements for Qualified Contractors to provide price proposals on Kansas Citys Levees levee and floodwall improvements to the Argentine, Armourdale, and CID levee units in Kansas City, Kan. and Kansas City, Mo. The final plans and specifications will be advertised to this group on Feb. 9, 2021 and are to be awarded in April 2021.

https://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/Mega-Pro ... ys-Levees/

It doesn't matter how high you build a levee. If water is up against it for a prolonged period, it can become undermined by current and saturation. Near my hometown, the levees were fortified after the flooding in 1992. They still failed twice since then (different years: 2011, 2019) -- leaving the river bottom widely-flooded. The last flood left water standing in the bottom for more than six months -- in some places longer. It took out Burlington Northern Santa Fe's rail line into Nebraska from Missouri. That rail line was impassable for a long period as parts of it had to be completely rebuilt. The state highway into Nebraska on the Missouri side had to be rebuilt, as did several small bridges.

Yep. My parents have property at the small lake up there and after building a home (thankfully lifted above flood stage) around 4 years ago have had it flood twice- this last time for almost 6+ months.

FangKC wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 9:05 pm The only thing I can see being done in Harlem is a big park with baseball or soccer fields.

I was thinking of a park with the HoA and Broadway Bridges being links to it on both sides. I understand the levee creates some challenges, but I think it can be overcome by possibly raising the ground level behind the level some? Incorporate the levee as part of a trail and build up the park behind it? Extend the town of kansas bridge across the river to it?

I follow a lot of engineering projects around the world. This doesn't seem like something that would be impossible to do or even all that difficult. It might be costly of course and dealing with rail roads, army corps of engineers etc is never fun, but it can be done.

Cities pull off stuff like this all time time. It just seems like a golden piece of land to add something really special to the urban core.

A lot of the schemes that get proposed on here and then are shot down aren’t usually even that radical compared to what other cities are doing. And then everyone wonders why nobody is drawn to this city