KCRag Forum

atticus23 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 19, 2022 12:54 pm Will whatever NorthPoint does with this project be subject to the affordable and extremely affordable policy or are they not subject to it as they are inheriting an old TIF development?

An incoming $122 million proposal — the largest known to date along Kansas City's southern streetcar extension — comes bundled with quality-of-life fixes for Park Reserve condominium residents that could begin later this year.

NorthPoint Development looks to fully demolish remaining undeveloped portions of the former Trinity Lutheran Hospital, which closed in 2001 and now sees regular break-ins northwest of 31st and Main streets.

In its place, the Riverside-based developer aspires to build a six-story apartment complex with 370 to 390 units. The project is tentatively named ArriveKC, an allusion to the multiple forms of transit it will complement, next to a planned streetcar stop and near four bus stops…

NorthPoint anticipates investing more than $1 million in life safety improvements in the existing condo buildings. These are expected to include fixes to rooftops and nonfunctioning elevators, potentially beginning later this year, development manager Gavin Ott said…

…Concurrent with the condo improvements, NorthPoint could start making repairs to Park Reserve's parking garage, which is to be preserved with the new proposal. The garage's 430 spaces, plus additional stalls to be built under NorthPoint's complex, are to serve existing condo and new apartment residents, as well as Ability KC's neighboring main campus and the public.

ArriveKC is one of the first two transit-oriented projects to apply for incentives through the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority's new Sustaining Transportation and Reinvesting Together (START) policy, meant to boost developments that meet transit-oriented policy goals in the authority's seven-county coverage area.

The other project is Jamestown Square, a $66.4 million, 226-unit project by Milhaus near the University of Kansas Medical Center campus.

“We want every project to not only be beneficial to its own location, but have implications on the greater passenger transportation network," Allison Bergman, a Hardwick Law Firm LLC attorney representing RideKC, said during its Wednesday meeting.

Evaluated by RideKC using START's "heat map" scorecard, both NorthPoint's and Milhaus' proposals could receive property tax exemptions up to 15 years at 75%, through Chapter 238 conduit bond issuances.

RideKC's board unanimously recommended that scoring for the two projects to KCATA's board, which on June 22 could approve resolutions of intent to issue bonds.

Contingent on coming plan approvals, Ott said NorthPoint could start demolishing the former hospital structures in early 2023 and begin mass grading for ArriveKC's new construction later that year. The complex's first units could be delivered 18 to 24 months later, coinciding with the southern streetcar's scheduled opening in early 2025.

NSPJ Architects PA will be architect for ArriveKC.

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 1:16 am
One of the things that has always befuddled me is the fact that Penn Valley Park isn't ringed with at least mid-rise apartment buildings.

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 1:16 am The only thing I think Northpoint is missing in planning this development is not having the west- and north-facing structures be taller. One of the great advantages of the site (other than location) is it will have unimpeded views to the west and north. I can see shorter wings facing south and east, but the selling point of the buildings along Wyandotte is the views.

I don't know what height they should be, but I'd propose at least two 25-story towers with shorter floors in between them. I'd also put some individual entrances to apartments along Wyandotte.

One of the things that has always befuddled me is the fact that Penn Valley Park isn't ringed with at least mid-rise apartment buildings.

Highlander wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 10:56 am

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 1:16 am The only thing I think Northpoint is missing in planning this development is not having the west- and north-facing structures be taller. One of the great advantages of the site (other than location) is it will have unimpeded views to the west and north. I can see shorter wings facing south and east, but the selling point of the buildings along Wyandotte is the views.

I don't know what height they should be, but I'd propose at least two 25-story towers with shorter floors in between them. I'd also put some individual entrances to apartments along Wyandotte.

One of the things that has always befuddled me is the fact that Penn Valley Park isn't ringed with at least mid-rise apartment buildings.

That is a problem with Penn Valley Park. There is almost no room for anything on it's periphery in every cardinal direction:

North: IRS and Union Station
West: The park is divided by Broadway (not equally) which kind of takes the wind out of the sails of having anything on the west side of the park's boundary but there is low density single family housing there, a spate of businesses and further north there is the dead zone of I-35. There is a pedestrian bridge across SW Trafficway into the park but I suspect it is rarely used as there isn't a great density of population to use it and very little to do once in the park. The bigger part of the park is on the other side of Broadway.
South: SW is Park Place. Not exactly a high density development despite its height. Further east is landscaped open ground of Penn Valley CC. Then a few businesses further east.
East: There are the troubled condo's in the SE. It would have been better if the hospital was just removed and new apartments or condo's built rather than trying to retrofit the existing buildings. Crown Center is due east but no effort is made to integrate the park with Crown Center.

Penn Valley Park is compromised by trying to maintain Broadway as a major artery through the park. From what I can tell, it doesn't get a huge load of traffic. I think the park would benefit by making Broadway a simple two lane road connecting Broadway north and south of the park but closing the exits and entrances onto I-35. That would free up the land used as the I35 entrance and exit on the NW side of the park for apartments that actually abut the park. Furthermore, I would have no issues with selling a narrow strip of land on the western side of the park (north of One Park Place) to developers for apartments along the east side of SW Trafficway. That, along with a diminished Broadway, would allow people to live on the periphery of the park and actually access the park and it might help clean up some of the problems in the park such as the homeless that live out of their cars on Penn Drive. It would also help to have more things inside the park to do - that western side might, for instance, be a good place for the Steamboat Arabia Museum.

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 12:01 pm I wish some developer could convince the Rehab Institute to build somewhere else. Perhaps move to Hospital Hill.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0868028 ... a=!3m1!1e3

Then their site could be redeveloped with TOD residential.

droopy wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 3:23 pm

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 12:01 pm I wish some developer could convince the Rehab Institute to build somewhere else. Perhaps move to Hospital Hill.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0868028 ... a=!3m1!1e3

Then their site could be redeveloped with TOD residential.

AbilityKC (formerly Rehab Inst) has a foundation that owns their building along with some other lots around 31st and Main. This Biz Journal mentions this development will include parking for them. Ability also has some plans in the works for a new building but will continue to occupy the existing building as well.

droopy wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 3:23 pm

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jun 16, 2022 12:01 pm I wish some developer could convince the Rehab Institute to build somewhere else. Perhaps move to Hospital Hill.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0868028 ... a=!3m1!1e3

Then their site could be redeveloped with TOD residential.

AbilityKC (formerly Rehab Inst) has a foundation that owns their building along with some other lots around 31st and Main. This Biz Journal mentions this development will include parking for them. Ability also has some plans in the works for a new building but will continue to occupy the existing building as well.