KCRag Forum

this article from the print edition (paywall) of the biz journal says:

Just weeks ago, pieces of terra cotta from the top of the Brookfield Building littered the sidewalk. Although cleanup is under way, the vacant structure still is defined by broken drains, a leaky roof and overgrown weeds that surround the old building on the southwest corner of 11th and Baltimore Avenue.

A few weeks after the city issued citations against him, Turner sent workers in to start making repairs to avoid fines.

The sidewalk barricades came down sometime recently, I first noticed they were gone a couple days ago. Inside still looks the same, going by in a bus on 11th.

it's a good size for a residental conversion. it's not a skinny period building that leads to small units.

the area needs more family-sized units. 3-4 BR ones.

the new apartment tower in P&L is great but it's on a skinny site which limits floorplans

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... tract.html

Michael said Affilated Developers’ contract on the building is contingent on receiving historic credits. The firm also will pursue other incentives, probably to include low-income housing tax credits, to help transform the building into about 100 affordable-rate apartments with ground-floor retail. Michael estimated the cost of the project at $15 million.

Brookfield Building goes under contract for affordable apartments

The Brookfield Building, one of the few blighted structures remaining in the Downtown loop, may join the growing pipeline of office-to-apartment conversion projects.
Bruce Michael, development officer for Affiliated Developers Inc. of suburban Detroit, said the nonprofit has placed the vacant 12-story building under contract.
Michael was in town inspecting the property Wednesday along with members of a local development team that includes Rau Construction Co. and historic preservation architect Angie Gaebler of Susan Richards Johnson & Associates. Part of the inspection involved cutting holes in the stucco facade placed over the lower portion of the brick exterior a few decades ago to determine whether the building's redevelopment could qualify for historic tax credits.

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... tract.html

Hope this works out, would love to see what the building looks like under that hideous facade.

This makes me so happy. I'm so tired of looking at that empty building.

Well friends, our city is on a roll. That last of the vacant blighted buildings downtown inside the Loop are scheduled for redevelopment: the Pickwick Hotel, the Argyle Building, and now the Brookfield Building. And the Mark Twain Building, and the Savoy Hotel are getting redeveloped as well.

Hopefully, Cordish's plan to turn the Power & Light Building into apartments will come together soon.

Now if something would happen with the Grand Avenue Temple office building at 9th and Grand, and the vacant Nick Abnos-owned Insurance Building at 10th and Oak. I wish the developers of the Pickwick Hotel project would buy that building and incorporate it into the Pickwick redevelopment.

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Does anyone know how occupied the UMB Ozark National Life (aka Rialto Building) and Scarritt Building are? I know UMB rents the building out as Partnership Place for arts related non-profits. I just wonder how full the building is now.

mgh7676 wrote:Brookfield Building goes under contract for affordable apartments

The Brookfield Building, one of the few blighted structures remaining in the Downtown loop, may join the growing pipeline of office-to-apartment conversion projects.
Bruce Michael, development officer for Affiliated Developers Inc. of suburban Detroit, said the nonprofit has placed the vacant 12-story building under contract.
Michael was in town inspecting the property Wednesday along with members of a local development team that includes Rau Construction Co. and historic preservation architect Angie Gaebler of Susan Richards Johnson & Associates. Part of the inspection involved cutting holes in the stucco facade placed over the lower portion of the brick exterior a few decades ago to determine whether the building's redevelopment could qualify for historic tax credits.

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... tract.html

Hope this works out, would love to see what the building looks like under that hideous facade.

Here's what the lower façade used to look like.

http://kchistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.p ... OX=1&REC=8

http://kchistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.p ... OX=1&REC=3

http://kchistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.p ... OX=1&REC=2

so much more attractive!

I can't imagine anyone thinking that the past renovation of the façade was more attractive than the original.

FangKC wrote:I can't imagine anyone thinking that the past renovation of the façade was more attractive than the original.

Has anyone determined if that exterior veneer is covering or replacing the deco exterior? It seems to jut out from the building a bit, which gives me a little hope that the original is still under there and what we're seeing it just another halfassed modernization/recladding attempt by some developer. By an Abnos ancestor, perhaps.

chaglang wrote: By an Abnos ancestor, perhaps.

I recently heard a rumor that Abnos is going to be filing for bankruptcy.

taxi wrote:I recently heard a rumor that Abnos is going to be filing for bankruptcy.

of course that doesn't prevent him from "developing" in the future, right?

Midtownkid wrote:

so much more attractive!

Can we put all the railroad paraphernalia back, too? Pretty please?

Sort of amusing that the Santa Fe and Frisco shared an office building back then, considering they'd be part of the same railroad a half-century later.

DaveKCMO wrote:http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/n ... tract.html

Michael said Affilated Developers’ contract on the building is contingent on receiving historic credits. The firm also will pursue other incentives, probably to include low-income housing tax credits, to help transform the building into about 100 affordable-rate apartments with ground-floor retail. Michael estimated the cost of the project at $15 million.

The hitch here, is their intent to "probably" include section 42 tax credits in their development.

The low-income tax credit program in Missouri is so bungled, onerous and unreliable, that this stipulation is overwhelmingly likely to kill the deal, if those credits are at all critical to their development.

It's amazing to me now when I think of how many railroad offices there used to be in downtown buildings. When I look through the old photos, I see them everywhere.

FangKC wrote:It's amazing to me now when I think of how many railroad offices there used to be in downtown buildings. When I look through the old photos, I see them everywhere.

With about a dozen Class 1's serving KC plus many others with interchange agreements, there was a lot of competition for the freight business.

chaglang wrote:

FangKC wrote:I can't imagine anyone thinking that the past renovation of the façade was more attractive than the original.

Has anyone determined what if that exterior veneer is covering or replacing the deco exterior? It seems to just out from the building a bit, which gives me a little hope that the original is still under there and what we're seeing it just another halfassed modernization/recladding attempt by some developer. By an Abnos ancestor, perhaps.

Man, sadly I think the current exterior pretty much replaced the original. I was walking by earlier today and noticed several holes in the stucco, so I investigated. Underneath it did not look too promising I am completely blown away by such short-sightedness.

Seems like it would be easy to reconstruct the original facade. This is done all the time. And, if historic tax credits are part of the picture...

There is still hope for the Brookfield Building!

Sunflower Adds Brookfield Building to its downtown redevelopment list

Sunflower Development Group LLC has acquired the Brookfield Building, a vacant 12-story building at the southwest corner of 11th Street and Baltimore Avenue in downtown Kansas City.
Jason Swords, principal of Sunflower Development Group, said Rau Construction Co. is currently stripping away the stucco facade on the lower portion of the brick tower. By exposing and restoring the terra cotta behind the stucco, Swords said, he hopes to get the building listed on the National Register of Historic Places, making its redevelopment eligible for historic tax credits.