39th St./KU Med development?

[QueSi2Opie]

A project like this is long overdue for that particular location.  Now they need to tear down the old Warehouse Music/Taco Bell buildings and develop some funky lil' cafes and restaurants across from the Med Center.   

[ChandraNH]

Bumping this thread as we are scheduled to move into the Mission Cliffs Townhomes 4/1.  We are renting for a year as we get used to the area (husband commuting to Olathe and I will commute to my office at 9200 Ward Parkway) but will most likely buy in that area because of the promxity to everything.  The couple of times we've been by there, we've liked the area, the proximity to downtown, 39th street shops and the potential for the same sort of thing on the KS side of 39th street.  Anyone have any word on anything new happening on the KS side?  Like many of you, I can see in my mind's eye the inclusion of walkable shops, cafes, good pizza joint, a bookstore, coffe/tea shop, community gardens to complement the walking trails that are planned for the area.

I'd also like to see something along the line of Movies in the Park (when I lived in the San Diego area - Chula Vista, the local park would host movies one night a week during the summer, where you'd bring your blanket and picnic basket and the movie would be projected on a large screen).

[kcjak]

You'd think that with the Mission Cliffs development finishing and the conversion of Rainbow Towers into the Vista condos there would be an influx of people who will have more of a stake in the area.  In other words, home buyers versus student renters.  Hopefully that will mean some increased pedestrian activity followed by better streetscaping and development along the Rainbow side of 39th.

The old Pizza Hut/Hannah Bistro corner is slated to be torn down and rebuilt into a two-story wraparound w/street-level retail, last I heard - the KCK side should look at doing some of that or at least help to rehab the shabby strip mall at 39th/Rainbow.

On a side note, Roca Salon at 39th/Roanoke is buying the old Spiritual Living Center and will renovate it before moving in once the SLC builds their new place.

[KCMax]

Congrats on the move. Unfortunately I don't see anything happening on the KS side for awhile. That Warehouse Music has sat vacant for about three years now. Rainbow is just too busy of an auto arterial and the plats are too spread out and dependent on drive-thru fast food places to really develop the kind of dense development you are talking about. Plus KU Med kinda interrupts any kind of connectivity between the restaurants and shops on 39th and anything you would build on Rainbow.

I think there is much more potential on the MO side extending down 39th all the way to SW Trafficway. It would be easier to build on the vibrant density you already have.

[slimwhitman]

Related thread.....

http://forum.kcrag.com/index.php?topic=10863.0

[dangerboy]

That Warehouse Music has sat vacant for about three years now.

It's not vacant.  The hospital owns and uses it for storage and parking. 

But I agree that the KCK side has an uphill climb.  Block & Co.'s decision to allow a payday loan on the southwest corner of 39th and Rainbow was devastating.  No coffee house or cool restaurant will want to go in next door to that.

[KCMax]

Rainbow Boulevard is really taking off in KCK. KU Med keeps expanding, 39th Street continues to do well as a funky restaurant district and there is a continuing demand for more development.

Woodside Village, a new look for Rainbow

That?s where Blair Tanner of Los Angeles wants to build a new community at 47th Street and Rainbow Boulevard, anchored by a revamped Woodside Racquet Club....

The $50 million endeavor would include 280 apartments, 30,000 square feet of retail and an expanded health club. One-bedrooms would rent for $1,100 to $1,200 a month, two-bedrooms from $1,400 to $1,500, prices comparable with the Country Club Plaza less than a mile away.

[moderne]

"taking off" is really an exageration.  Woodside owners were proposing to redevelop and build a mid rise residential ten years ago. 

[KCMax]

"taking off" is really an exageration. 

Really?

http://forum.kcrag.com/index.php?topic=15628.0

http://forum.kcrag.com/index.php?topic=16337.0

Not to mention the new residential units at 39th and Westport, and all the construction by KU Med, all in one of the worst recessions in a generation.

[moderne]

KU med has been under construction all of its existence.  Another chain drug on another corner is nothing to brag about.  There is no 39th and Wesport?

[KCMax]

KU med has been under construction all of its existence.  Another chain drug on another corner is nothing to brag about.  There is no 39th and Wesport?

Rainbow and Westport, sorry. And there is the development at 39th and Rainbow that is going to take out Jaywalkers and that awful hotel and replace it with a hotel/condo/retail. Anyway, I'm not here to split hairs, if you don't think its "taking off" that's fine, but the area is going through a transformation with more development in a time when development has ceased in many other areas of the metro, and this despite the fact the area is not a well-established, tony neighborhood like developments out in south JoCo. I think that speaks well for 39th and Rainbow. The next step is to make Rainbow a more walkable street, as there is already quite a bit of pedestrian traffic that has to traverse McDonald's parking lots and dodge KU Med traffic to get to their bus stops.

[moderne]

I will agree that there is remarkable activity for an area that has been considered quite sketchey, especially the removal of the onetime slum area hanging from the dead end roads on the bluffs above Mission and SW Blvd.  Not sure what residential you are referring to at Rainbow and Westport(43rd in ks)?  The row houses a few blocks south?

[trailerkid]

I think it's fair to say this area is "taking off" relative to the sorry state it's in now. The Lane4 39Rainbow project across from the Med Center is kind of a joke as it has more surface parking than actual building going on. It's Target-shopper urbanism.

[KCMax]

I think it's fair to say this area is "taking off" relative to the sorry state it's in now. The Lane4 39Rainbow project across from the Med Center is kind of a joke as it has more surface parking than actual building going on. It's Target-shopper urbanism.

That's a huge disappointment. I thought it was supposed to a dense mixed-use type development? Seems like Lane4 talks the talk but rarely walks the walk.

[GRID]

Nice little project, but god, you guys are getting hard ons over this?  Come on KC, quit acting like Joplin when it comes to development.  I STILL can't believe that nothing is going on there outside the PAC.  Sort of mind boggling, economy or not.

[KCMax]

Nice little project, but god, you guys are getting hard ons over this?  Come on KC, quit acting like Joplin when it comes to development.  I STILL can't believe that nothing is going on there outside the PAC.  Sort of mind boggling, economy or not.

I didn't realize anyone was getting a hard-on.

[dangerboy]

I think it's fair to say this area is "taking off" relative to the sorry state it's in now. The Lane4 39Rainbow project across from the Med Center is kind of a joke as it has more surface parking than actual building going on. It's Target-shopper urbanism.

As someone who actually knows this location, I argue it's a huge improvement over the current situation and bodes well for future infill development in that area.  I don't think the parking is excessive, and it's all tucked away behind the buildings.  The buildings will all be up against the sidewalk.

[LenexatoKCMO]

I would concur that urbanizing an urban core boulevard, long ago converted to a suburban commercial strip garbage is indeed worth celebrating.  If similar projects were going in on some of the more suburbanized stretches of Main we would all be screaming hallelujah and talking about midtown's triumphant return. 

[voltopt]

Come on KC, quit acting like Joplin when it comes to development.

I have no idea what this means, but it sounds funny, like a Mel Brooks movie.

[trailerkid]

As someone who actually knows this location, I argue it's a huge improvement over the current situation and bodes well for future infill development in that area.  I don't think the parking is excessive, and it's all tucked away behind the buildings.  The buildings will all be up against the sidewalk.

my sister lived there...caught the Metro many times there. KC doesn't belong to you exclusively.

the parking is excessive and the reason why the project is a joke.
http://www.lane4group.com/pdf/projects/ ... 0Plan1.pdf