KCRag Forum

FangKC wrote:

The building you circled here was already demolished a few months back. I do not know what they're currently doing to that site, but there are construction workers there every day.

Voxide wrote:

FangKC wrote:

The building you circled here was already demolished a few months back. I do not know what they're currently doing to that site, but there are construction workers there every day.

I believe that demolition was part of the Crossroads Academy expansion.

mgh7676 wrote:

kboish wrote:DST previously used both the old garage and the surface lot. They needed to replace the old garage any ways and so making it bigger will allow them to consolidate their employees into just the garage and leave the surface parking to the YMCA exclusively. That way, DST is paying for the garage (thru a TIF) and the YMCA gets the free (Im assuming) surface parking.

..................just wish they could add some sort of street level retail.

This is a missing component.

Storefront & retail placemaking is a required ingredient to bring blocks to life.

Wtf? This is crap

KCPowercat wrote:Wtf? This is crap

Apparently retail was looked into but it "would take up a full half of three levels of the 4.5 level parking garage, reducing the parking count by over 26%"

I guess the giant library garage kitty-corner to this site and the eight-level garage directly across the street are not enough parking for the area..

http://cityclerk.kcmo.org/liveweb/Docum ... lngAL8Xcfk

Even one retail space on the corner would make me happier.

The problem is that there isn't anything being constructed here that will generate a lot of new revenue. The YMCA isn't going to pay for structured parking. The DST garage parking is replacement parking for offices that already exist. There isn't any new retail, commercial, or residential square footage being added to this block to help generate enough revenue to pay for a larger garage in the interior of the block. To have retail at street-level, you need more decks added to the parking garage. More than the 4.5 level garage on the footprint of the existing garage. Would the rents from the retail pay for adding those extra decks?

It would seem to me that you would have to add residential units and/or office space to the block to help pay for a bigger parking garage.

FangKC wrote:The problem is that there isn't anything being constructed here that will generate a lot of new revenue. The YMCA isn't going to pay for structured parking. The DST garage parking is replacement parking for offices that already exist. There isn't any new retail, commercial, or residential square footage being added to this block to help generate enough revenue to pay for a larger garage in the interior of the block. To have retail at street-level, you need more decks added to the parking garage. More than the 4.5 level garage on the footprint of the existing garage.

Replacment parking doesn't mean they should just get away with not putting in something better....the currently NE corner doesn't house hardly any parking and could have easily housed some space w/o adding floors given the elevation change:

https://goo.gl/maps/6YzHtUaezSL2

.

The developer claimed that the grade along 10th Street was too steep to make retail ADA compliant and retail along Wyandotte would have blown up the functionality of the garage layout for that parcel.

Eon Blue wrote:The developer claimed that the grade along 10th Street was too steep to make retail ADA compliant and retail along Wyandotte would have blown up the functionality of the garage layout for that parcel.

I have faith that BNIM is smart enough to find a way to include retail if the developer really wanted it included.

mgh7676 wrote:

Eon Blue wrote:The developer claimed that the grade along 10th Street was too steep to make retail ADA compliant and retail along Wyandotte would have blown up the functionality of the garage layout for that parcel.

I have faith that BNIM is smart enough to find a way to include retail if the developer really wanted it included.

I second the notion.

Granted, having retail along Wyandotte would affect the garage somewhat. There is still room for retail on the east side of the parcel. The first deck of the parking garage might be minimal, and a lot of the space might go to the ramps. However, you could put most of the parking on the upper levels of the garage above the retail. This is done at the Plaza. One could also place the parking on each side of the ramps as is done in the public library parking garage.

The City garage at 12th and Oak is similar in size (the footprint taking up half the block) and it has retail at ground level. It's also on a sloping street. I think it holds 1000 cars. How many spaces is DST looking to build? And how many will YMCA need to replace the surface parking lot? They probably don't need a garage as big as the City garage at 12th and Oak.

San Francisco and Seattle manage to place retail along hilly streets.

http://tinyurl.com/qjlf9gr

http://tinyurl.com/h4p2p9j

Same building, side view showing garage entrances on steep slope.

http://tinyurl.com/hglauqd

http://tinyurl.com/j9n764y

http://tinyurl.com/ob2fd9r

http://tinyurl.com/jjyuxgg

Parking garage built over retail on a slope.

http://tinyurl.com/p6wng5q

http://tinyurl.com/zvcu29v

Side view of the retail with garage over it. You can see that the retail space doesn't go that deep into the garage. Apartments could sit atop this narrow part of the structure, and block view of the interior garage from the street.

http://tinyurl.com/jb839ro

Aerial of this garage.

http://tinyurl.com/h2wzwo8

I think it's more an issue that DST doesn't want to bother with doing anything extra--other than replacing the garage. Of course the DST of today is quite different than the DST of past years in that it has different management and priorities--and those in charge are less interested in city building.

There are probably architecture firms, that are more specialized in creating custom garages over retail with some residential on urban infill sites, that might be more experienced than other firms.

Another approach that could be taken is for DST to think about the idea of getting more of their downtown workers to live downtown, where their vehicle would then be parked at their residence. If DST doesn't want to do it, then this would require working with a developer to build more apartments near their offices. If more of your workers walk to work, or take the streetcar or bus, then you don't have to build as big a garage to provide parking spaces. I'm sure there are a lot of DST workers who would like to live downtown if there were enough apartments from which to choose. The more housing downtown the more easily you can disperse vehicles elsewhere.

The ideal approach is to target specific parcels for this type of development that are large enough to build interior parking garage that can be hidden from streetview, and close enough to walk or take mass transit. The East Village and the North Loop have entire blocks where this could be done.

"I think it's more an issue that DST doesn't want to bother with doing anything extra--other than replacing the garage. Of course the DST of today is quite different than the DST of past years in that it has different management and priorities--and those in charge are less interested in city building."

Fang, this is the key observation. It's now a situation where the community (ie-government) should push back by placing requirements to do the right thing in return for any assistance.

Not sure if this has been shared or not, perhaps a different thread, but the garage at 10th and Wyandotte is being demo'd. I believe another parking structure to replace this demolition is in the works to support the overall YMCA plan.

hartliss wrote:Not sure if this has been shared or not, perhaps a different thread, but the garage at 10th and Wyandotte is being demo'd. I believe another parking structure to replace this demolition is in the works to support the overall YMCA plan.

correct. the public gets nothing in return except more parking capacity (which, of course, is not public).

The new plan is to only preserve the lobby and front facade of the former Lyric Theater, and demolish the rest of the building and build new.

The latest design by BNIM architects for the facility was revealed. It calls for the front facade and historic lobby of the vacant theater building to be retained and an addition with pool, fitness center, indoor track and gym built behind it.

Byrd said the original concept of renovating the entire theater to house the YMCA facilities and building a parking garage proved too costly, with donors also balking at paying for a garage.

http://kcur.org/post/kansas-citys-downt ... y#stream/0

http://www.bnim.com/project/ymca-lyric-renovation

What is the point of reusing the building if they are going to demolish the majority of it? They might has well just built it all new in the East Village.

Yeah, at some point I would think it's more cost-efficient to cut your losses on the Lyric site and build new from a surface lot in the East Village. Surely it would be cheaper and quicker to build, not to mention provide some impetus to the EV site that has gone nowhere for years.