Status and future of the River Market area??

[FangKC]

KC’s ‘vacation ice cream parlor’ floats into City Market; scooping two passions into one sweet escape

https://www.startlandnews.com/2023/07/f ... nd-floats/

[Chris Stritzel]

Took my drone up here today and got some photos. Also made a fun short video that can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/vI2bi8GhK1I

[langosta]

A sea of parking with minimal density to speak of.

[smh]

A sea of parking with minimal density to speak of.

Love all of the progress KC continues to make, but first thing I noticed in the high aerial shot was just how much parked cars continue to dominate the landscape.

[TheSmokinPun]

The people moving into, and living within, the environment are taking the challenge to change how they commute. We have to stop subsidizing our cities for the suburbs to come in, party, then leave. Don't cater to them as much.

[langosta]

The people moving into, and living within, the environment are taking the challenge to change how they commute. We have to stop subsidizing our cities for the suburbs to come in, party, then leave. Don't cater to them as much.

No keep catering to them but make transit a real way they can get there. Tourism follars are important

[Jblanco]

Took my drone up here today and got some photos. Also made a fun short video that can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/vI2bi8GhK1I

.

Thanks for the photos and video.
I am depressed after seeing the truth about this city. Developers simply despise this city.
There is no money here. We literally have miles of empty land that has been sitting vacant for decades. WHAT does that tell you about this city's leadership for the last 5-6 decades?

It tells me that the same "leaders" that have allowed crime, terrible schools and decaying infrastructure to dominate are the same leaders that have no business experience and the common sense required to sustain a city, attract new business and make the city safe and livable.

I have to submit to the reality that the few that still invest here do so because of the past history, not because of the current reality. Young entrepreneurs and small business owners that have come in or started businesses in the past few decades have done so based only on KC's past history, our wonderful historic architecture that's left standing and our city's cultural history.

I love the streetcar, but having driven the entire route (and ext) yesterday I felt ashamed at how many huge surface lots sit empty, up to 40% of the route. The Federal Reserve building and land is an absolute scourge in the way that it "interact" with Main Street, destroying an entire city block of street front. The person(s) responsible for that design must have despised this city and had no (zero) confidence in making it better in any way.

Sorry for the rant, realizing the truth.

[Chris Stritzel]

The good thing about this view is that I can keep coming back to this view as new things are built. 3rd and Grand, Oaks (Ashland) and City Harvest will take up some of the parking. The Arnold Development project, if still planned, will take up a gold chunk of land at the front of the picture. If only the Defeo/3rd and Oak building was still proposed.

We can’t be negative about this stuff though. For decades, leadership failed KC by doing things that we know now weren’t smart. The tide is slowly changing and that slow change will yield more positive developments over time. Patience is necessary, especially with the North Loop. Commerce Bank owns a ton of those parking lots. If Commerce let those go, this view wouldn’t be so depressing. But think of the opportunities.

[FangKC]

CityScene KC

UPDATE: City Harvest project now expected to begin construction in Spring 2024, according to developer. Recent negotiations with FAA over building height part of delay.

https://www.facebook.com/cityscenekc

[Chris Stritzel]

CityScene KC

UPDATE: City Harvest project now expected to begin construction in Spring 2024, according to developer. Recent negotiations with FAA over building height part of delay.

You could say this project is a Bellwether…

“Will they let me build or not, that’s the question I do not know and neither do the Feds”.

[DMNBT_RCJH]

Bellwether for multiple reasons indeed...

I'll go on record that the Downtown Airport is an amazing amenity to have. But it can't get in the way of 10 story projects like this. It just can't.

Part 77 needs significant changes, and lobbying needs to happen at the federal level.

As an aside, I worry a lot of these projects won't end up being built because supply has rapidly met demand in many markets. Perhaps not here in KC yet, but in many others such as charlotte, austin, and nashville. Some downtown apartments are already consistently seeing 10-15+% price drops from listing to leasing. Decadal demographics are also not friendly to continued multifamily building. We aren't having enough children in this country. (Not to go all birther here, not my intention, but the trend is clear and the cancellation of the expanded child tax credit was one of the dumbest decisions in recent memory). We've been below replacement rate for close to 15 years already. If I'm a multifamily developer at the moment, I'm taking a good hard look at my priors.

[TheUrbanRoo]

CityScene KC

UPDATE: City Harvest project now expected to begin construction in Spring 2024, according to developer. Recent negotiations with FAA over building height part of delay.

https://www.facebook.com/cityscenekc

I thought they had already squared this away with the FAA for this project a while ago...?

Also this should be put into the City Harvest forum

[FangKC]

On Kansas City Week in Review tonight, it was discussed that the Hawleys of the Steamboat Arabia Museum have decided they don't want to leave the City Market.

https://flatlandkc.org/news-issues/cloc ... departure/

[KCPowercat]

The city may have other ideas and not renew their lease. I'm tired of them there.

[WoodDraw]

The city may have other ideas and not renew their lease. I'm tired of them there.

Yeah, I'm not sure they get to choose. They've paraded in front of anyone that will look for money and have come up empty.

When everyone passes, there's a reason why. There's not much love in this relationship. They already put out a request for proposals for what to do when they leave

[KCPowercat]

Riverfront purpose built building would actually make a lot of sense

[FangKC]

I would think the former Star printing press building could somehow be reused for the Arabia/Malta museum and maybe combine another museum with it. We really don't have a museum that tells the story of Kansas City history. The Kansas City Museum really doesn't do that, and we really need something like that Downtown anyway. One might also make the Garment Museum an exhibit in a greater museum. I'd also like to see an exhibit of vehicles made in Kansas City.

I don't think a museum for the contents of steamboats needs to necessarily be on the riverfront. We also need to find a reuse for the Star printing press building. It seems wasteful to be demolishing buildings that are not that old. More visitors would probably go to a location within walking distance of hotels and the convention center.

The American Royal complex might be another location to place it.

[langosta]

i don't see a need to give the museum any more money/time/space. Love the history but do not like the owners muhc

[TheLastGentleman]

I get the feeling that the arabia owners expected the city and the public to beg them to stay when they announced they were shopping around for new digs. Well, that didn’t happen and I think it demonstrates that not even the city sees it as much of a draw. Especially if they’re soliciting ideas for reusing the complex, essentially declaring that the museum will move whether it wants to or not

[dukuboy1]

I would love to see their artifacts on display. They have done a nice job with their museum. I’ve been to it a few time & enjoyed it. I like the idea of having it be part of a larger natural history museum of some kind around downtown. I get the current owners are not the best/well liked but regardless the history & artifacts they have are top notch. Anything we can do to keep that cultural aspect is great & helps build a better city over all. Arts, culture, science, are key contributors to a city’s vitality.