...
DRAW architect principal Dominique Davis and her husband, Robert Riccardi, a principal at Multistudio, were approved for incentive help to renovate the historic Henney Buggy Co. building at 1400 W. 13th street into offices that will include a new home for DRAW.
...
...
The DRAW architecture project is a smaller, $2 million renovation of a three-story building at 1400 W. 13th built in the 1890s.
“The bones are amazing,” Davis said. “It’s gorgeous architecture from this period of architecture in the West Bottoms.
“When we walked in thinking about space to expand our DRAW office, even though it’s larger than needed…we just absolutely fell in love with it.”
The plan calls for DRAW to occupy the third floor of the 22,500 square-foot building and rent the lower two floors to other office users. The building was the former home of Nook and Cranny, an antique shop.
...
Have a hard time with the vacating of St. Louis Ave, units could just as easily be put on a sixth floor. Likely a desire to enclose the district, though executed in a very boring & suburban way. Intersection is a bit of a mess that does need cleaning up, but hate to see it go like this. #SaveTheGrid
bspecht wrote: ↑Mon Jul 31, 2023 4:44 pm
Have a hard time with the vacating of St. Louis Ave, units could just as easily be put on a sixth floor. Likely a desire to enclose the district, though executed in a very boring & suburban way. Intersection is a bit of a mess that does need cleaning up, but hate to see it go like this. #SaveTheGrid
Probably more to better utilize that awkward lot on the northwest side of St. Louis and Sante Fe
Who actually uses that crossing with both streets a dead end right there?
bspecht wrote: ↑Mon Jul 31, 2023 4:44 pm
Have a hard time with the vacating of St. Louis Ave, units could just as easily be put on a sixth floor. Likely a desire to enclose the district, though executed in a very boring & suburban way. Intersection is a bit of a mess that does need cleaning up, but hate to see it go like this. #SaveTheGrid
Probably more to better utilize that awkward lot on the northwest side of St. Louis and Sante Fe
Who actually uses that crossing with both streets a dead end right there?
Better utilize? It’s no small lot, could build just as many units on it. But why when you can just take real estate from the City? (and capture several efficiencies, sure)
I’m sure many would use it with proper destinations, especially pedestrians from WBF. St Louis Ave is a wider ROW than Mulberry, could be a great corridor with treatments, or we can just shut it off.
Video overview of WB and Somera Road's vision for the project. Includes a virtual walk through. I'll admit it, I honestly have no problem with the Weld site apartments. Its still a better quality design than most similar projects going up. I enjoyed the contrasting 19th century brick buildings with the modern infill. Overall, i'm quite excited for the overall direction Somera Road wants for WB. What are everyone's thoughts so far?
trexel94 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2023 6:11 pm
Video overview of WB and Somera Road's vision for the project. Includes a virtual walk through. I'll admit it, I honestly have no problem with the Weld site apartments. Its still a better quality design than most similar projects going up. I enjoyed the contrasting 19th century brick buildings with the modern infill. Overall, i'm quite excited for the overall direction Somera Road wants for WB. What are everyone's thoughts so far?
Having seen the interior of the weld building, I’m wholly disappointed in their “inability” to salvage the structure, and their desire to demolish it (at city expense) to build a generic 5/1 style structure. It’s something that I guarantee will be regarded with a healthy amount of cringe in 5 years time.
trexel94 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2023 6:11 pm
Video overview of WB and Somera Road's vision for the project. Includes a virtual walk through. I'll admit it, I honestly have no problem with the Weld site apartments. Its still a better quality design than most similar projects going up. I enjoyed the contrasting 19th century brick buildings with the modern infill. Overall, i'm quite excited for the overall direction Somera Road wants for WB. What are everyone's thoughts so far?
Having seen the interior of the weld building, I’m wholly disappointed in their “inability” to salvage the structure, and their desire to demolish it (at city expense) to build a generic 5/1 style structure. It’s something that I guarantee will be regarded with a healthy amount of cringe in 5 years time.
Five years? I cringed bad the second I heard it was coming down. It should have been saved. It was a significant structure that really helped give the WB its own identity and it should have been preserved. Replacing that building with a basic 5 floor wood apartment building drastically changes the feel of the area. What's done now is done and it's good to see new development there, but that was a major loss to the WB, especially after fires have taken so many structures from the WB over the past 20 years.
trexel94 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2023 6:11 pm
Video overview of WB and Somera Road's vision for the project. Includes a virtual walk through. I'll admit it, I honestly have no problem with the Weld site apartments. Its still a better quality design than most similar projects going up. I enjoyed the contrasting 19th century brick buildings with the modern infill. Overall, i'm quite excited for the overall direction Somera Road wants for WB. What are everyone's thoughts so far?
Having seen the interior of the weld building, I’m wholly disappointed in their “inability” to salvage the structure, and their desire to demolish it (at city expense) to build a generic 5/1 style structure. It’s something that I guarantee will be regarded with a healthy amount of cringe in 5 years time.
Five years? I cringed bad the second I heard it was coming down. It should have been saved. It was a significant structure that really helped give the WB its own identity and it should have been preserved. Replacing that building with a basic 5 floor wood apartment building drastically changes the feel of the area. What's done now is done and it's good to see new development there, but that was a major loss to the WB, especially after fires have taken so many structures from the WB over the past 20 years.
The fucked up part is it hasn’t even been torn down yet…
If the vacation doesn't happen, they'll need to pick to which level they go back to the boards – possibly saving Weld (far from guarantee).
The vacation should not happen based on what was explained at the first new MPD committee meeting, Bunch took note that he didn't know these were on the books (and need to have a stronger place in evaluation).
While I agree and have stated previously that Weld is a huge loss for the bottoms, I've made peace with it. The upcoming 5/1 does appear to be well designed, built out to the edges of the unique site, and relatively open to Mulberry and Union streets.
Those pretty renderings sure do show a lot of street facing retail, however, and I hope that the Weld replacement does indeed provide retail along that stretch of Union across from the Ship, rather than multifamily amenities for private use (fitness, office, common area). Looking at the more detailed plans for the building however, not holding my breath.
Still, excited to see how this all comes together. "Laramie Square" in the old Ship Lake gravel lot could be a really neat public space...
Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2023 10:21 pm
Having seen the interior of the weld building, I’m wholly disappointed in their “inability” to salvage the structure, and their desire to demolish it (at city expense) to build a generic 5/1 style structure. It’s something that I guarantee will be regarded with a healthy amount of cringe in 5 years time.
Five years? I cringed bad the second I heard it was coming down. It should have been saved. It was a significant structure that really helped give the WB its own identity and it should have been preserved. Replacing that building with a basic 5 floor wood apartment building drastically changes the feel of the area. What's done now is done and it's good to see new development there, but that was a major loss to the WB, especially after fires have taken so many structures from the WB over the past 20 years.
The fucked up part is it hasn’t even been torn down yet…
Wow, I thought it was already down. Sounds like it's imminent, so may as well just deal with it at this point.
I like how the WB is developing but I still have mixed feelings about it and sort of wish areas like Crossroads would build out more first before spreading to the WB. There is still so much infill needed downtown, crossroads and along the entire streetcar line in Midtown. The WB is isolated from the rest of the urban core and not very transit friendly. But the land is cheap, so that's where developers will go.
agreed there could be some better design choices but what they are doing seems fine to me and the renderings look to create a nice district feel to the area. I like it and look forward to everything moving forward and creating a whole neighborhood North to South in the West Bottoms. This really has a lot of potential to bring back an area that most of KC metro ignores now.
Weld Wheel, even though it doesn’t look it, is probably among the most historically significant buildings in the west bottoms. It’s a great example of a concrete daylight warehouse, a style which was a major step on the way to modern architecture in the US. KC has a few examples of this style, but the Weld Wheel is among the largest and most prominent
I agree with GRID that I wish investment was going into places like East Crossroads and Paseo West first. Those areas have better transit access and are more connected to Downtown. I'd be fine with WB remaining artist studios and hosting antique stores and such for a while longer, and maybe converting into more of a full-fledged neighborhood later.
TheLastGentleman wrote: ↑Fri Aug 04, 2023 11:42 am
Weld Wheel, even though it doesn’t look it, is probably among the most historically significant buildings in the west bottoms. It’s a great example of a concrete daylight warehouse, a style which was a major step on the way to modern architecture in the US. KC has a few examples of this style, but the Weld Wheel is among the largest and most prominent
I'm surprised they don't realize that the Weld Wheel building would have provided them something their new buildings cannot -- views from the windows the upper floors.
FangKC wrote: ↑Fri Aug 04, 2023 11:14 pm
I agree with GRID that I wish investment was going into places like East Crossroads and Paseo West first. Those areas have better transit access and are more connected to Downtown. I'd be fine with WB remaining artist studios and hosting antique stores and such for a while longer, and maybe converting into more of a full-fledged neighborhood later.
Yeah, I really see nothing all that positive coming out of development the WB prior to infill in West/East Crossroads, East side of loop, West Paseo, the parking lots south of Crown Center etc. ESPEICALLY if they are going to tear down historic structures and make it another generic apartment district. I'm really happy to see the the renovations of some of the warehouse buildings.
There is only so much new residential construction in urban KCMO. I think it just makes more sense to build out existing areas and make use of transit first. WB may as well be in Raytown with how it interacts with downtown.
Development in the West Bottoms, along with Berkley Park, will help finally return KC to a river city. Also, the connection to KCK's Strawberry Hill, new Kaw River levees, and the Rock Island Bridge conversion will help connect the two cities along the two rivers.
The empty lots between the River Market and the 9th and Baltimore area should be a more pressing concern than anywhere in the Crossroads.
Rabble wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 6:04 pm
Development in the West Bottoms, along with Berkley Park, will help finally return KC to a river city. Also, the connection to KCK's Strawberry Hill, new Kaw River levees, and the Rock Island Bridge conversion will help connect the two cities along the two rivers.
The empty lots between the River Market and the 9th and Baltimore area should be a more pressing concern than anywhere in the Crossroads.
Nashville has a bunch of pockets of development that are only just now starting to run into each other. Our goal should always be growing the size of the pie.
KC can support development in multiple urban neighborhoods at once!
Rabble wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 6:04 pm
Development in the West Bottoms, along with Berkley Park, will help finally return KC to a river city. Also, the connection to KCK's Strawberry Hill, new Kaw River levees, and the Rock Island Bridge conversion will help connect the two cities along the two rivers.
The empty lots between the River Market and the 9th and Baltimore area should be a more pressing concern than anywhere in the Crossroads.
Nashville has a bunch of pockets of development that are only just now starting to run into each other. Our goal should always be growing the size of the pie.
KC can support development in multiple urban neighborhoods at once!
I agree but the city should prioritize developing the vacant land between the River Market, 9th & Baltimore and the Garment district ahead of anything to the south. Not only is this the most embarrassing empty space in our city but the potential here is enormous. Every existing building in the area has been restored and retrofitted in the last 20 years and yet nothing new has been built. This area is far more historic and architecturally significant than anywhere in the Crossroads.
