Sky and Cordish $253M project

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normalthings
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by normalthings »

DColeKC wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:08 pm
GRID wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 7:59 pm Nice. That aught to bust up the "glass wall" a bit. I guess this means Cordish is pretty serious about KC and that they will more than likely build Four Light behind the theater as well. I kind of thought after 3 Light, they would peter out. Guess I was wrong.

If they build the garages above ground and the 85k sq ft of retail, both those buildings will be over 25 floors.
This move across the interstate into the crossroads has been in the works for sometime. They’ll likely stick with the “light” naming scheme and whenever they build behind the theatre, it will be 5L or 6,7 or 8L. 4L will be at the corner of 14th and Main.

Ive been told they’re very committed to KC and never intend on selling or moving out of the market. Being a private company is an advantage here as well.

I also wouldn’t be shocked if some of the planned residential shifts to office depending on the relationship and hopes that Cerner would finally have a legit downtown presence.
1. Is the plan really to break ground next year?
2. Does the current office space proposal have a tenant?
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DColeKC
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

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normalthings wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:13 pm
DColeKC wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:08 pm
GRID wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 7:59 pm Nice. That aught to bust up the "glass wall" a bit. I guess this means Cordish is pretty serious about KC and that they will more than likely build Four Light behind the theater as well. I kind of thought after 3 Light, they would peter out. Guess I was wrong.

If they build the garages above ground and the 85k sq ft of retail, both those buildings will be over 25 floors.
This move across the interstate into the crossroads has been in the works for sometime. They’ll likely stick with the “light” naming scheme and whenever they build behind the theatre, it will be 5L or 6,7 or 8L. 4L will be at the corner of 14th and Main.

Ive been told they’re very committed to KC and never intend on selling or moving out of the market. Being a private company is an advantage here as well.

I also wouldn’t be shocked if some of the planned residential shifts to office depending on the relationship and hopes that Cerner would finally have a legit downtown presence.
1. Is the plan really to break ground next year?
2. Does the current office space proposal have a tenant?
1. Yes
2. I’m not sure, very hush hush on that one.
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normalthings
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by normalthings »

DColeKC wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:14 pm
normalthings wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:13 pm
DColeKC wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:08 pm

This move across the interstate into the crossroads has been in the works for sometime. They’ll likely stick with the “light” naming scheme and whenever they build behind the theatre, it will be 5L or 6,7 or 8L. 4L will be at the corner of 14th and Main.

Ive been told they’re very committed to KC and never intend on selling or moving out of the market. Being a private company is an advantage here as well.

I also wouldn’t be shocked if some of the planned residential shifts to office depending on the relationship and hopes that Cerner would finally have a legit downtown presence.
1. Is the plan really to break ground next year?
2. Does the current office space proposal have a tenant?
1. Yes
2. I’m not sure, very hush hush on that one.
1. That is great news. Hopefully it actually happens this not (not Cordish's fault previously).
2. Ahhhh. too big to be an urban target by itself. just the right size to be an urban target with Sporting KC and Fan 360 offices? maybe
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by kboish »

Boy things are really heating up again in regards to the development pipeline. Glad there is something on the table for these lots. I'm really looking forward to seeing renderings and to see in person how this helps link the loop with Xroads.

Fingers crossed on a timeline for a cap to help push things forward even more. The way things look with the Biden admin, the cap sounds like a very attractive project for federal funding.
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by KCPowercat »

Hot damn. Nice. Long rumored space for something. Sounds great and obviously why Cordish has been driving the cap. Great news.
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by beautyfromashes »

Maybe, Union Pacific can move here and Cordish can start a new naming scheme: Union 1, 2, 3...
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by earthling »

Will be great to have many Light buildings but after a few perhaps they should be adapted to a new naming convention? The Plaza has the poets buildings.
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by kenrbnj »

Let's all be cautiously optimistic: The key to this is whether the financing will fall into-place. Conjecture: Cordish is already exposed with the #3 development. Hence the JV approach to this development.

Whatever the case, it is good news. Cordish has been moving their product successfully. They have confidence and experience. Interest rates remain low.

500+ units plus a parking and a retail component? The "magic 350'" mark seems attainable with at least one of the structures.

The intangible is the potential work force brought into the area, together with the removal of office product. Perhaps spec office space is going to have it's time?
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

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I’m sure they could drop the naming scheme or go with something different for the buildings technically located in the Crossroads. I feel they’ll stay with the light theme on the north side of Truman.

Cordish is developing like crazy right now with many projects in progress and several planned over the next 5 years.
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

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kenrbnj wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:46 am Let's all be cautiously optimistic: The key to this is whether the financing will fall into-place. Conjecture: Cordish is already exposed with the #3 development. Hence the JV approach to this development.

Whatever the case, it is good news. Cordish has been moving their product successfully. They have confidence and experience. Interest rates remain low.

500+ units plus a parking and a retail component? The "magic 350'" mark seems attainable with at least one of the structures.

The intangible is the potential work force brought into the area, together with the removal of office product. Perhaps spec office space is going to have it's time?
Sporting KC had been working on an apartment project for a while. I look at this as SKC getting Cordish on board to help them bring their project to life. Je Dunn has invested in big new construction projects in the hot sunbelt cities but not much here in KC. Their involvement shows a belief this market will heat up

https://jedunncapitalpartners.com/paget
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by FangKC »

I hope they drop the "Light" designations. Frankly, after Four Light, it gets sort of boring.

I am happy to see these parcels getting developed though.
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by Chris Stritzel »

I have a few thoughts and hopes for this project...
1. I hope that Cordish drops Hord Coplan Macht for the design work on these buildings. Unless it's not up to them. HCM having the design contracts for 2 and 3 Light is ok, but once they start pressing copy and paste for 4 Light and then these two buildings, it'll form a pretty boring look quickly. Getting other architects into the mix would most likely yield a different looking product that distinguishes between all "Light" towers.
2. My hope is that one building is taller than the other. To go further, I hope the one on the West side of Main is taller than the one on the East side of Main.
3. I doubt the office portion would be built as a standalone structure. Instead, I see them including an equal amount of office space in both buildings or having all in one building with apartments on top of that.
3B: In the event the office space is all put into one building, I don't expect anything past 8 floors for it. It would most likely include it's own parking component with an entrance on Truman South followed by multiple floors of parking then comes the office space.
4. Both buildings should have no curb cuts on Main. I'm sure I'll be crucified for it, but keep the garage entrances on Truman or try to put them into an alley. Main should not be backed up as a result of garage entrances. Putting the entrances on Truman should help a bit, but it's still not ideal.
5. The street level frontage on Main should include retail spaces, lobbies and have some street trees/planters to make it enjoyable to walk by.
6. Keeping the "Light" naming scheme doesn't really bother me, but they should not put any "sky signage" on these buildings. Keep the building signage at the ground level.
7. The specified rent in the BizJournal article, $1,200 for studios to $3,500 for penthouse units, seems like a decent price range for a new product like this. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these prices are below the Light Towers, meaning that I have no doubt that the 506 units in these two buildings fill up. A premium product on the streetcar line with a quick and easy walk to the grocery store, numerous restaurants, bars, and other things. The inclusion of some affordable apartments is a plus too.
8. The unit sizes range from an average of 375 square feet to around 1,300 square feet. The studios will be small, but I think we will see space used similarly to the planned units at the Midland (meaning every square inch of usable space will be used to maximize efficiency. The 1300sf penthouses seem to be on par with those at Two Light.

I'm looking forward to seeing the renderings for this. If they want to begin in 2022, which is very ambitious, then I expect we will see the design of the buildings soon since they have a lot of hoops to jump through until they can break ground in 2022.

These buildings will also create that visual connection of pulling Downtown into the Crossroads. Loews seems like the "odd man out" right now but these two buildings, deepening on their height, will make Loews blend in a bit more. In the future, anything else built at 16th and Main should be shorter, but no shorter than Reverb, to further create that transition into the Crossroads. But that's just my view.

Overall, it's nice to see Cordish getting involved in two projects outside of the Power and Light District, but it's not like they're going far. They're going just across the highway and having a stake in these projects helps them protect their investments in the Power and Light District as well as cement their place in the hopes of getting the park over highway completed.
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by alejandro46 »

I would add that after this announcement surely the 670 Loop Cap project is going to move forward sooner rather than later?
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

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alejandro46 wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:11 am I would add that after this announcement surely the 670 Loop Cap project is going to move forward sooner rather than later?
I doubt it.

Seems like there is 0 city support for much-needed downtown ADA and quality of life improvements.
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by KCPowercat »

What made you think to wrap ADA improvements into a cap?
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

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normalthings wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 11:21 am
alejandro46 wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:11 am I would add that after this announcement surely the 670 Loop Cap project is going to move forward sooner rather than later?
I doubt it.

Seems like there is 0 city support for much-needed downtown ADA and quality of life improvements.
What does this mean?
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Chris Stritzel
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

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TheLastGentleman wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:42 pm
normalthings wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 11:21 am
I doubt it.

Seems like there is 0 city support for much-needed downtown ADA and quality of life improvements.
What does this mean?
I think it alludes to the fact that the City wont support/fund the pedestrian improvements to the bridge to the Riverfront from River Market as a result of the Streetcar extension. They rather pass the responsibility of adding pedestrian facilities to that bridge off on the transit authority. So if that's their attitude there, which goes against ADA and quality of life improvements, then why would they support the Park Over Highway?
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by GRID »

TheLastGentleman wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:42 pm
normalthings wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 11:21 am
alejandro46 wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:11 am I would add that after this announcement surely the 670 Loop Cap project is going to move forward sooner rather than later?
I doubt it.

Seems like there is 0 city support for much-needed downtown ADA and quality of life improvements.
What does this mean?
If you travel at all, you would totally understand. KCMO is WAY WAY behind in quality of life / recreational infrastructure and even when they have opportunities to catch up a little (Broadway Bridge, Riverfront etc), the city doesn't seem to know how to properly design and implement such infrastructure.

This is an awesome project (cordish project on both sides of main), but I personally have zero faith in the city building a well designed and thought out park on top of 670. If it happens at all, it will be cheap and poorly designed and and therefore not be very utilized and just end up being wasted space.

Just my honest opinion. Take it or leave it.
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by TheLastGentleman »

I didn’t know there were ADA issues with the cap park. Isn’t it at grade for the most part?
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Re: Sky and Cordish $253M project

Post by Rabble »

If you build a house next to a freeway you should expect freeway noise. Is the city suppose to drop everything and build a 5 block park over a freeway just because expensive housing got built next to it? Is that how it works in the suburbs?
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