KCRag Forum

The former Benton Theater is completely demolished now, and the site cleared.

That corner is an eyesore now. I have to pass by it usually multiple times per day, and I really hope somebody puts something human-scaled there. There are plenty enough hideous strip malls around.

mean wrote:That corner is an eyesore now. I have to pass by it usually multiple times per day, and I really hope somebody puts something human-scaled there. There are plenty enough hideous strip malls around.

Northeast doesn't have a Jimmy John's yet, do they?

39th and Broadway, here we come!

Urban Trail Co.'s Urban Dirty celebration is this weekend, Friday night through Sunday afternoon at Kessler Park. I would absolutely be there if I didn't have to be in STL this weekend. There is a trail cutting work day Saturday morning.

Go check out the new hiking/biking trails being built in the woods surrounding Cliff Drive, and help make the northeast a better place!

http://www.cliffdrivekc.org/events/2014 ... dirty-2014

Somebody buy that parcel and hold onto it until it can support a signature 6-story mixed-use building.

I was pondering that parcel yesterday. It seem to me the best plan would be to go ahead and knock down that apartment building that remains (with boards on the windows) and connect the parcels into a larger one. Then excavate the larger parcel to build an underground parking garage that would be large enough to accommodate resident parking for an apartment building with street retail, and connect the new building with the Perky Brothers Transfer & Storage Building to the east--making them one big complex. The Perky Brothers building would then either be loft apartments or office space.

I was thinking the new building could be around five stories. I would also set the new building back from the sidewalk a few feet so that there could be street trees, outdoor seating for restaurants and a coffee bar, and maybe have some sort of permanent awning over them.

Damn... I still can't believe what happened to this building. Was definitely a favorite of mine.

I like your idea though Fang. I would like to keep the small apartment behind it if possible, but if it wouldn't work then it would totally be worth losing to have a project of that magnitude. I have trouble believing this lot won't become a damned gas station or something though.

I tend to want to preserve old buildings. However, for a better project to work at that location, there needs to be a large enough parcel to excavate a decent sized underground parking garage so that enough apartments, and some retail, can be built, and the Perky Bros. Transfer Building can be incorporated and reused. I think this is a better solution that having a surface parking lot between the two buildings in that it allowd a continuous building facade and streetscape. My proposed solution would then add more density than was there before.

There are dozens of apartment buildings of that type in and around the Northeast already, so there are plenty of examples of the architecture. I also wonder that the same conditions that caused the collapse of the Benton Theater wall might also result in that apartment building being vulnerable. We really don't know what caused the collapse. I wonder if soggy ground behind that building from poor drainage was the real reason. That issue might have caused soil to have sunk, and resulted in shifting of that wall.

If the building is retained, a smaller garage might be possible, but that would also mean a smaller new building--maybe three stories instead of five.

The City's parks, and planning, departments and students at the KC Design Center, are working on repurposing the old reservoir in Kessler Park.

Seven students with the KCDC are taking a closer look at Kessler Park and conducting a vision study as their final project. The students are focusing on repurposing the abandoned water reservoir, as well as an overall vision study of Kessler Park which would include new amenities and a master plan for the park.

http://northeastnews.net/pages/?p=26113

http://kcdesigncenter.org/projects/kessler-park/

So, what do you think should be done with the abandoned reservoir in Kessler Park?

Ideas?

Aerial view:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1144047 ... a=!3m1!1e3

So, what do you think should be done with the abandoned reservoir in Kessler Park?

Combination mountain bike free-style course with obstacles and ramps in the interior (volunteer built with ERTA/Urban Trail Co. - already involved heavily with Cliff Drive trail work) and street-art/graffiti mural space along the concrete walls.

FangKC wrote:So, what do you think should be done with the abandoned reservoir in Kessler Park?

Ideas?

Aerial view:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1144047 ... a=!3m1!1e3

Needs to be cleaned up and my two disc golf frisbees returned to me.

rxlexi wrote:

So, what do you think should be done with the abandoned reservoir in Kessler Park?

Combination mountain bike free-style course with obstacles and ramps in the interior (volunteer built with ERTA/Urban Trail Co. - already involved heavily with Cliff Drive trail work) and street-art/graffiti mural space along the concrete walls.

Speaking of mountain biking, not to go off topic but this indoor mountain bike place took over an abandonded menards, i think it would be great to open this in an abandonded big box store
http://www.raysmtb.com/

An abandoned Menards?!
mgsports might explode!

bbqboy wrote: mgsports might explode!

and so on

Speaking of mountain biking, not to go off topic but this indoor mountain bike place took over an abandonded menards, i think it would be great to open this in an abandonded big box store
http://www.raysmtb.com/

Very cool, that's exactly what I'd like to see there. Probably difficult to make it open to the public due to various liability issues. But would be a great draw and pair well with the existing disc golf and newly developing trails around Cliff Drive.

Occurring on the HNE's Facebook group page is an Interesting discussion re: future development of this historic area.
30+ comments and the majority request Applebee's, Costco, Trader Joe's and a Quiktrip.
'Careful what you wish for,' I think, is the appropriate clichè. How quick an area is no longer historic at all. That part of the city is at risk for becoming Dollar Generalized out of favor.

Building damaged by semi-truck at Independence Avenue and Benton.

http://www.kmbc.com/news/tractortrailer ... g/30404738

That's not the building with Hamburgeusa Loca in it, is it? It's hard to tell from the pics.

edit: Nevermind, I read the article.