Downtown New Residential Units

Issues concerning Downtown as described by the Downtown Council. River to 31st Street, I-35 to Bruce R. Watkins.
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dukuboy1
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

Post by dukuboy1 »

flyingember wrote: Tue Oct 27, 2020 3:08 pm
dukuboy1 wrote: Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:50 pm
You can live in the Northland, and be about 10-15 mins from downtown in a home for what you can spend on a condo. Plus the refi benefits of having a single family home vs. condo.
Dramatically less. 10-15 minutes is homes at $150k

There isn't a new condo on the market that will be below $300k + HOA fees
well I was trying to match up apple to apple with cost. You are correct you can get a much lower cost, but for the same you can get more and still stay in the time radius
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

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High rise co-op/condo: MAJOR consideration is HOA.

I have a personal view (twice over):

#1:

In looking at S. Fl; I liked high-rise waterfront. Great location, less money. HOA for a high-rise is often $1000+/mo. Parking garages, commons areas, ELEVATORS, roof repair requiring heavy-lift helicopters, dickhead neighbors who leave water running and flood people beneath them?

I chose a (much more expensive) home with dirt and attached garages on the water. Price was much higher, HOA was way lower.

Resale liquidity is far better (not for sale, by a long-shot)

#2:

SF Tower. EXACTLY the same as S. Florida; but I suspect deferred maintenance. Instead of a "special assessment"; the hunch is a HOA loan; repaid via a HOA levy based on perceived sale value of the units.

This is why LOW TAX towns tend to be more prosperous than high-tax towns. The recurring burden eventually DEVALUES the asset. SFO Tower (and that old BMA tower) are examples of this.
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normalthings
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

Post by normalthings »

kenrbnj wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 7:20 pm High rise co-op/condo: MAJOR consideration is HOA.

I have a personal view (twice over):

#1:

In looking at S. Fl; I liked high-rise waterfront. Great location, less money. HOA for a high-rise is often $1000+/mo. Parking garages, commons areas, ELEVATORS, roof repair requiring heavy-lift helicopters, dickhead neighbors who leave water running and flood people beneath them?

I chose a (much more expensive) home with dirt and attached garages on the water. Price was much higher, HOA was way lower.

Resale liquidity is far better (not for sale, by a long-shot)

#2:

SF Tower. EXACTLY the same as S. Florida; but I suspect deferred maintenance. Instead of a "special assessment"; the hunch is a HOA loan; repaid via a HOA levy based on perceived sale value of the units.

This is why LOW TAX towns tend to be more prosperous than high-tax towns. The recurring burden eventually DEVALUES the asset. SFO Tower (and that old BMA tower) are examples of this.
Is it an issue that is condo specific? Or would minimal amenities fix this issue in your mind

Should KC stick to Lowrise row house condos?
Maybe a condo-apartment mix is the best we can do? I just don’t get how Lincoln can get at least one down but we somehow can’t.
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normalthings
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

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beautyfromashes wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 8:28 am
normalthings wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 12:51 am Seems like no amenities could be the best path forward. For example, a skinny condo tower to the north of Consentinos could share the One Light pool & gym and use existing garage spaces.
Yes, I agree. We are starting to burn through the upper market now that has to have a saltwater pool, a spa and a wine storage locker. The mid-market is wide open and much larger. The amenities will be cut because downtown IS the amenity!
Reverb is a weird mix of saltwater pool prices for no amenities. Otherwise, I think we would have seen that one fill up quickly.

A single residential project is never going to have its own quality gym so why include one at all? Projects below 200 units generally can't pencil in a resort-style pool so why have a pool at all? Cut all of that extra cost out and let residents use pooled community resources like neighborhood gyms and pools.

This is why I think that the Lincoln condo tower idea makes sense here. Cut out everything someone else in the neighborhood is doing better (most of the amenities). Provide people with a nice home, bellman, and maybe a communal rooftop space. Heck, you could even build it on the north end of the One Light block and share the pool, gym, and parking amenities.

Market: 37 condo units can't be that hard to fill in a city like KC. If just 2 players, past or present, from each major league team bought a unit we would be halfway to the 14 needed to get a construction loan. What about doctors from Hospital hill and NKC Hospital? New WR HQ? I'm sure we could land another 2 financial professionals looking for a home downtown. Boom there is your 14 needed to get a construction loan.
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

Post by kenrbnj »

Normalthings: There is definitely a market for the high-density, high-rise condominium product. The product, the price, and the HOA covenants must be correct.

HOAs nationally have this core problem: Absent disciplined covenants; heavy ($$) maintenance gets deferred. Developers exacerbate the problem: Low reserve requirements and artificially HOA fees sells units. The problem is the maintenance tends becomes deferred, only to result in exceptionally high assessment (one-time lump sum repairs - good practice) or loans ("pay over time"- bad practice) resulting in higher monthly fees.

Demographics help, as empty-nest resident have the money, do not need the extra space, simpler lifestyle.

Height makes the view, of course!

SFO tower is a perverted aberration. Those penthouse units should be selling for $1.2M or more. However, the $4,200 HOA fees are disgusting. Clearly the HOA made some incredibly stupid decisions. Hence you sell a penthouse for $320,000 with some of the most commanding views of downtown.

..Compare it with my home 20 years ago on Union Hill-- 204 E. 30th Street. Similar view; no liability.
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

Post by flyingember »

normalthings wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 8:48 pm

Market: 37 condo units can't be that hard to fill in a city like KC. If just 2 players, past or present, from each major league team bought a unit we would be halfway to the 14 needed to get a construction loan. What about doctors from Hospital hill and NKC Hospital? New WR HQ? I'm sure we could land another 2 financial professionals looking for a home downtown. Boom there is your 14 needed to get a construction loan.
Financial mismanagement is a well known trait among pro athletes. Don't assume they have a ton of money on hand to spend

https://www.investopedia.com/financial- ... abits.aspx

And sports players are likely to get traded if they're doing well enough to be able to buy a nice unit. So renting makes more financial sense.
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

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flyingember wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2020 8:27 am
normalthings wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 8:48 pm

Market: 37 condo units can't be that hard to fill in a city like KC. If just 2 players, past or present, from each major league team bought a unit we would be halfway to the 14 needed to get a construction loan. What about doctors from Hospital hill and NKC Hospital? New WR HQ? I'm sure we could land another 2 financial professionals looking for a home downtown. Boom there is your 14 needed to get a construction loan.
Financial mismanagement is a well known trait among pro athletes. Don't assume they have a ton of money on hand to spend

https://www.investopedia.com/financial- ... abits.aspx

And sports players are likely to get traded if they're doing well enough to be able to buy a nice unit. So renting makes more financial sense.
Agree and disagree here. No doubt there are still several well paid athletes that piss it all away, but I've been lucky to know a handful of NFL guys on a friend level and I'm sincerely impressed with how they manage their money. They all make the occasional ridiculous purchase, but they invest, have financial advisors and often, the big ticket items they buy will only appreciate in value. I've also known a few guys who blow 20k at a night club. I'm sure they regret it the next day.

The guys I know were a mixed bag of renting and buying. The guys who were drafted local and got decent contracts purchased right away. Others, rented a few years before buying and some still rent. Guys like the honey badger is renting a large house in OP and doesn't seem to intend to buy. Most of the guys who I know that have purchased plan on this being home base even after retirement. Mahomes being a prime example. He's actually looking to move up to a large home at the moment.
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

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earthling wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2020 2:37 pm A new downtown report claims downtown population is over 29K and anticipated to hit about 33K by end of this year and near 40K by 2025. Attention Target!
Looks like they pulled the reigns back in on some of the more recent projections.

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normalthings
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

Post by normalthings »

There is some irrational exuberance in multi-family development across KC and our peer cities. Projects are being brought back from the dead and tall/extravagant are getting played around with. KC and peers have some pretty exciting stuff in the works that may or may not end up getting announced or even built.
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

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Not quite following why you think that's irrational, can you elaborate?

The demand is greater than new supply in most any growing market. Construction costs and labor issues are slowing things down for now but not the planning. Pipeline lists are always much longer than what gets delivered as projects can be killed for many reasons. KC metro has about 35K units planned/prospective with delivery typically about 4K-5K/yr, a common ratio in other markets. Pretty common many won't ever be built in any market. Demand in the city may fluctuate but would think when streetcar expansions complete, there will be another surge.
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

Post by earthling »

high demand for downtown living + reduced demand for office space = office to residential conversion trend...

https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/ ... -sale.html
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

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earthling wrote: Mon Feb 14, 2022 4:12 pm high demand for downtown living + reduced demand for office space = office to residential conversion trend...

https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/ ... -sale.html
A residential building on top of that garage would be really nice.
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

Post by FangKC »

Yes, it would be great if they could add apartments on that garage.

I am still concerned about losing more office space without replacement space being built, and attracting more employers downtown.
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

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No one's going to miss that office space. Convert away!
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

Post by TheLastGentleman »

I thought for sure this thing had been converted/renovated within the last 5 years or so but I guess not. It had a national register application filed for it but maybe that never came to anything
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

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About 1/3 of the building was converted to apartments, I believe the top few floors. The new buyer has the opportunity to convert the rest, although some floors still have office users with lease term left. Not sure why they are exiting the project half-finished, but looks like several lawsuits from previous office tenants were filed regarding their tenancy during conversion of the other floors from office to residential.
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

Post by DaveKCMO »

The top 1/3 and some units on the 2nd level of the garage structure that face Main with much larger windows than the main building.
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AlkaliAxel
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

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DaveKCMO wrote: Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:21 pm The top 1/3 and some units on the 2nd level of the garage structure that face Main with much larger windows than the main building.
How many floors would they build on top of the garage to get the potential 170 spaces they're talking about?
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

Post by Cratedigger »

Seems like a great development and a sustainable use for an older office building.

Hopefully now we can get some newer, quality offices built downtown to replace this office space. Something newer might be more attractive to businesses looking.
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Re: Downtown New Residential Units

Post by FangKC »

The article doesn't say how many floors on the garage.
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