KCRag Forum

pash wrote:No place deserves this.

Agreed.

Don't like it? Build your own.
Growing, thriving cities like San Diego have replaced many surface lots and old, obsolete single-family houses in their core with buildings and designs similar to this.

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We're striving for San Diego now??!

A whale's vagina?

NorthOak wrote:Don't like it? Build your own.
Growing, thriving cities like San Diego have replaced many surface lots and old, obsolete single-family houses in their core with buildings and designs similar to this.

Same goes for Denver. I was there last week and they had fully build out neighborhoods where every single building had this design.

beautyfromashes wrote:We're striving for San Diego now??!

I'm not a fan of this design at all but we would be lucky to have neighborhoods as dense and lively as they have. Just because we architecture nerds don't like it doesn't mean that the suburban kids looking to move in and have a big city experience don't.

I do agree that we could and should do way better but i also understand that developers will cheap out and cut corners everywhere they can to make projects financially feasible.

mister816 wrote:I do agree that we could and should do way better but i also understand that developers will cheap out and cut corners everywhere they can to make projects financially feasible.

My take on what is happening here.. that was a mostly correct statement, but I took the liberty of correcting it a bit:

"i also understand that some developers will cheap out and cut corners everywhere they can to make projects more profitable regardless of the long-term effects of doing so"

San Diego is a disaster on a pedestrian level and Denver's neighborhoods with buildings like this feel cheap and awful. Just imagine what they'll feel like in 10 years when all these cheap materials look like hell and need to be replaced. I don't think it's asking too much, ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY'RE GETTING INCENTIVES, for a modicum of respect for the pedestrian level and materials that aren't the cheapest available.

TheBigChuckbowski wrote:San Diego is a disaster on a pedestrian level

I lived in San Diego and I couldn't disagree more.

Kansas City is a disaster on a pedestrian level.

TheBigChuckbowski wrote:San Diego is a disaster on a pedestrian level and Denver's neighborhoods with buildings like this feel cheap and awful. Just imagine what they'll feel like in 10 years when all these cheap materials look like hell and need to be replaced. I don't think it's asking too much, ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY'RE GETTING INCENTIVES, for a modicum of respect for the pedestrian level and materials that aren't the cheapest available.

100 percent agreed.

TheBigChuckbowski wrote:San Diego is a disaster on a pedestrian level

Have you ever been to a non tourist area of San Diego. My experience in SD was a few months atCamp Pendleton (the USMC base) and the surrounding area. They are far and i mean FAR ahead of Kansas City in almost every way.

mister816 wrote:

TheBigChuckbowski wrote:San Diego is a disaster on a pedestrian level

Have you ever been to a non tourist area of San Diego. My experience in SD was a few months atCamp Pendleton (the USMC base) and the surrounding area. They are far and i mean FAR ahead of Kansas City in almost every way.

Been to Camp Pendleton and it's in a great spot. Don't know why we're comparing the pedestrian level of anywhere in San Diego to KC for any reason though. But regardless... The RM West I and II both suck - especially II. Lets just say its a project that belongs in Olathe (not San Diego). That's really the point here - not anything about a city on the coast of California.

KCtonic wrote:.... Don't know why we're comparing the pedestrian level of anywhere in San Diego to KC for any reason though. But regardless... The RM West I and II both suck - especially II. Lets just say its a project that belongs in Olathe (not San Diego). That's really the point here - not anything about a city on the coast of California.

You're not following the thread. I said there are apartments exactly like this in design being built in growing cities like San Diego (and Austin, Denver, Minneapolis, etc). These infill projects are how these cities developed a critical mass. Not everywhere is Manhattan. The real point here is that KC needs this project and another 500 similar projects just to fill in the holes from the river to 31st.

Can RM 1 and West be "better?" Sure but why are we critiquing and nitpicking these projects to death when downtown has as many surface lots still as it does developed blocks? We still have 30 sq blocks of surface lots remaining in the loop alone and people are complaining about this.

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Yes, we've heard it all before a million times.
Sure, do all you can to try to get the developer to change things to your liking.
But the incessant whining on here won't get anything accomplished.
That project is not as bad as you make it out to be, there are no "surface lots" or "blank walls" in the RMW II version.
And how is this not pedestrian friendly?
Your hyperbole doesn't help.
This version is far superior to RM West I

We still have 30 sq blocks of surface lots remaining just in the loop alone.
We still have another 50+ blocks of surface parking lots in the Crossroads.
In the light of that, you claiming that you and others would like to see "nothing built" rather than projects like this is very queer.

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There's plenty of "I don't like it" on this site but where it's subjective.

This project is really lazy. It's poorly designed other than to make money.
It wouldn't take much to do much better. It fronts two streets and it doesn't try to do anything with either of them.

It's not just lazy it's also cheap and tacky.

I can't say for certain, but it looks like something might be happening with 516 Grand. It's a single parcel that has two attached one-story brick buildings and an empty lot between them. I don't see any permits on the parcel viewer, but the Block & Co. listing (sign attached to the bldg) doesn't appear to be advertised on their website (taken down?). I walked past these buildings last week and again today and it looks like there are work crews and some dumpsters in the back alley and empty lot. They've had the front doors open both times. Not sure if they are gutting it and beginning some construction work or if they are just being used as workshops/fabrication/etc. similar to the neighboring garage attached to Icon Architects.

If those are at the NW corner of Missouri & Grand, they were a demo threat at one point recently.