KCRag Forum

FangKC wrote:The office building at 301 E. Armour, that used to house the Housing Authority of Kansas City, has been purchased by Mac Properties and the top four floors will be converted into 56 apartments. The building will get a facade renovation as well. The bottom two floors will be rented as commercial space.

http://midtownkcpost.com/armour-office- ... -facelift/

that is one ugly building but great to see it getting used.

This could actually be attractive to a young start up company, I think young people would love to live and work in the same building.

The redesign is more unattractive than the original. Shoulda gone big with a Mad Men redo and a tiki club on the ground floor.

moderne wrote:The redesign is more unattractive than the original. Shoulda gone big with a Mad Men redo and a tiki club on the ground floor.

Ooooh, I don't think anything could be more unattractive than the original. I think the new look is alright. A slight improvement to some key elements.

I'm really curious it they have any plans for making the garage look more attractive though. That is the worst part of it.

Hey, we agree on something!

That building couldn't look much worse. IIRC they bought the building primarily because of the garage. Hopefully there are some cosmetic changes to it, because I don't think it's going away.

chaglang wrote:IIRC they bought the building primarily because of the garage. Hopefully there are some cosmetic changes to it, because I don't think it's going away.

The biggest change to the garage that they mentioned would be to remove sections from the top two levels adjacent the the building to allow more natural light to come into the lower levels of the building on the garage side. They showed a rendering of the east side of the building, including the garage, and I don't recall seeing anything drastically different with the garage, like a new facade.

They did show a patio area for a restaurant on the east side of the building. I'm curious why they chose to put the patio on Gillham (I assume it is due to costs). Armour seems like a better choice to me.

Complaint accuses KC officials of trying to get low-income black renters to move

A company that manages several low-income apartment buildings on Armour Boulevard has filed a federal fair housing complaint accusing Kansas City officials of trying to get black residents to move.

Eagle Point Cos., which operates the Bainbridge, Georgian Court and Linda Vista apartments, filed its complaint this week with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development against Kansas City municipal government, City Councilman Jim Glover, the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority and Peter Cassel of MAC Property Management.

Eagle Point officials allege the city and its representatives tried to force low-income African-American residents of its buildings out of the Hyde Park neighborhood.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/governme ... 20656.html

There is a newly completed renovation on Armour east of Troost: Yaletown Apartments at 1305 E Armour.



It looks to be an extensive renovation, including solar panels on the roof.

$585-$685 for a 1 bedroom. I think Armour east of Troost is going to be a tough sale at this point. When the building was being sold prior to renovation, only 10 of 27 units were rented at average price of $425.

Here is the Craigslist ad:
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/apa/4720262516.html

There has been work the last week or two on some of the buildings slated for demolition last year (block between Wyandotte & Baltimore). The largest building is still shuttered with no work being done to it, but the three smaller buildings are having their front porches replaced and salvaged brick being put back up.

I hope this means Mac Properties is having a change of heart with buildings.

Photos please.

Here is a crappy picture I took from a day or two ago. I'll try to get a better one soon. Noticed a pallet of blocks in front of the bigger building today, hope that means that work will begin on it soon. Either way, any work being done on these buildings is encouraging. On a sidenote, I've included a picture I took a week or two ago of the work being done on the top of the Ambassador building. Excited to see this stretch of Broadway/Armour come back to life.

This is still very much in the preliminary/conceptual phase, but Mac properties is attempting to acquire the two parcels on the NW and NE corners of Armour and Troost (the BP station and and Food Mart) as well as the long vacant hotel building at Armour and Forrest. They already own the parcels on the SW and SE corners (old market building and vacant lots). The plan is for the city to declare the buildings blighted and condemn them.

The plan would then be to rehab the historic buildings and build mixed used developments on the 3 vacant corners, each building designed by a different, top KC architecture firm. There would also be new construction on the lots west of the Market building, along Armour and Harrison.

There are still many questions and uncertainties, but if they are able to pull this off as described, it could be a complete game changer for Troost and Midtown.

KCtoBrooklyn wrote:This is still very much in the preliminary/conceptual phase, but Mac properties is attempting to acquire the two parcels on the NW and NE corners of Armour and Troost (the BP station and and Food Mart) as well as the long vacant hotel building at Armour and Forrest. They already own the parcels on the SW and SE corners (old market building and vacant lots). The plan is for the city to declare the buildings blighted and condemn them.

The plan would then be to rehab the historic buildings and build mixed used developments on the 3 vacant corners, each building designed by a different, top KC architecture firm. There would also be new construction on the lots west of the Market building, along Armour and Harrison.

There are still many questions and uncertainties, but if they are able to pull this off as described, it could be a complete game changer for Troost and Midtown.

This would be incredible news. MAC has done a great job through the entire Armour corridor. It will be interesting if they can successfully continue east of Troost.

It would also be great if they redeveloped some of the larger "troubled" buildings closer to Westport/39th street, but I don't know if that would ever happen. As far as the neighborhood has come in the last ten years, there is still a lot of sketchiness in the 'hood.

Walked down Armour for the first time last week and it is a really beautiful street but is severely missing some retail. This, along with the building they're renovating now at Gillham, would be huge for the area on both sides of Troost.

mgh7676 wrote:This would be incredible news. MAC has done a great job through the entire Armour corridor. It will be interesting if they can successfully continue east of Troost.

It would also be great if they redeveloped some of the larger "troubled" buildings closer to Westport/39th street, but I don't know if that would ever happen. As far as the neighborhood has come in the last ten years, there is still a lot of sketchiness in the 'hood.

MAC has expressed interest in developing east of Troost in the past, but they have cited the Bainbridge and an impediment to that. I imagine they will try to use this proposed development as springboard to continue eastward. I really hope the apartment building just to the east of the chicken place can be rehabbed. I had been in it maybe about 15 years ago and remember it having some truly beautiful historic features.

As for 39th St., I've always hoped they could rehab the Hawthorn Plaza, Alcazar, and Santa Maria. That would do wonders for the area.

TheBigChuckbowski wrote:Walked down Armour for the first time last week and it is a really beautiful street but is severely missing some retail. This, along with the building they're renovating now at Gillham, would be huge for the area on both sides of Troost.

The retail being built in the former office building at Gillham will be a great addition, but something between there and Troost would be nice. The lot across the currently under rehab Newbern building would be perfect, but if they are not building it in conjunction with the apartment rehab, I don't see it happening any time soon.

TheBigChuckbowski wrote:Walked down Armour for the first time last week and it is a really beautiful street but is severely missing some retail. This, along with the building they're renovating now at Gillham, would be huge for the area on both sides of Troost.

The retail being built in the former office building at Gillham will be a great addition, but something between there and Troost would be nice. The lot across the currently under rehab Newbern building would be perfect, but if they are not building it in conjunction with the apartment rehab, I don't see it happening any time soon.

It is not on Armour, but it does look like their recent rehab of the Ambassador on Broadway includes retail on the first floor. The Westport Central building also includes some small offices on the first floor. Hope that trend continues in their other development.

KCtoBrooklyn wrote: MAC has expressed interest in developing east of Troost in the past, but they have cited the Bainbridge and an impediment to that.

The Bainbridge is the last major problem child on Armour. Some friends own a home down street on Campbell - am over there often. Police at the building almost every day despite a security guard in front every day. It's a wonderful building that was restored nicely but they need to get rid of Section 8 status and go mixed income - not necessarily needs to be market rate, just target relatively more responsible tenants.

I wonder what MAC's feelings on bike infrastructure are? I bet if they told the city that they wanted bike lanes along the length of Armour we would soon have bike lanes along the length of Armour.

Eon Blue wrote:I wonder what MAC's feelings on bike infrastructure are? I bet if they told the city that they wanted bike lanes along the length of Armour we would soon have bike lanes along the length of Armour.

Didn't the city receive funding to put bike infrastructure on Armour a few years ago? Armour is one of Kansas City's most beautiful streets, bike lanes would make it even better.

Eon Blue wrote:I wonder what MAC's feelings on bike infrastructure are? I bet if they told the city that they wanted bike lanes along the length of Armour we would soon have bike lanes along the length of Armour.

Armour already has bike lanes if I recall.