New high end apartment tower and Aloft hotel announced for West Plaza

[LenexatoKCMO]

There was an article in the Star this morning announcing that developers are looking to build a couple towers NW of the plaza at the current site of the colonial court apartment complex.  The Towers will include a couple hundred high end rental apartments and an Aloft hotel.  One tower is to be about 7 stories and the other around 10.  I would paste the article but my kansascity.com account is fubared as usual this morning. 

More rental units seems like just what this market needs.

[chrizow]

this is massive!  what a great project. 

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/304479.html

"Don MacKenzie wants to build a 246-unit luxury apartment building and a 189-room boutique hotel on a roughly half-block site southwest of 46th and Jefferson streets. The seven- to nine-story apartment tower and separate 10-story hotel would replace the 17-building Colonial Court apartment complex built in 1946.

The proposed apartments are being described by the developer as the “highest-quality” rental property to be built in recent years near the Plaza with monthly rents pegged at $1.75 per square foot — roughly $1,000 to $3,500, depending on the size of the unit.

The hotel is slated to be an Aloft, a high-end concept operated by W Hotels, a subsidiary of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. The hotel also will have 18 condominiums on the upper two floors."

[DaveKCMO]

i assume again that there is no street-level retail? another missed opportunity...

[FangKC]

Dave, that is mostly a residential block.

ALoft Hotels

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/alofthote ... hotels_com

[DaveKCMO]

Dave, that is mostly a residential block.

so.

[FangKC]

Well, not everyone wants retail on their block.  Plus, the streets around there are pretty narrow and tight as it is.

[ignatius]

Wow, that is mega-huge.  And since W Hotel is planning to come into the market, it supports the notion of the W Hotel/condo project that P&L has been murmuring about.

The Plaza has converted so many apts to condo that there are very few left (<1K I hear), justifying new construction of higher end apts.

[FangKC]

Hopefully, the condo conversions on the Plaza will result in some new for rent apartments being built.

[ComandanteCero]

wow, great news!  (and confirmation of what some have said before, that although condo construction might not be as attractive right now, rental projects can still be proposed where the rents support it)

Underground parking, higher density, replacement of a shitty existing building (atleast i assume it's shitty, if it's the building i think it is).... this is sounding like a great project. 

In terms of retail, i can see what dave is saying, it would be interesting if maybe there was some intimate cafe/restaurant concept there, a way to start spreading the activity into the surrounding neighborhoods.  At the same time, being so close to the Plaza, it doesn't really bother me that much if they don't include it.

[FangKC]

I would have no opposition to a corner bistro or coffeeshop.

Here is an image of one of the ALOFT Hotels from the Starwoods site.





alofthotels.com

[chrizow]

are there any Alofts that are more vertical like the 10-story one KC is slated to get?

[dangerboy]

Well, not everyone wants retail on their block.  Plus, the streets around there are pretty narrow and tight as it is.

What does street width have to do with it?  As you say, it's a residential area, so there are plenty of customers within walking distance of a coffee shop, deli, or god forbid something practical like a dry cleaner or florist.

[FangKC]

It shouldn't.  But the reality is that retail and commercial businesses prefer locations with good traffic patterns and parking.

[ignatius]

Here are some other Alofts I found on google image search..






There were others only 5 floors.

[FangKC]

I like the first building the most.

[moderne]

First one looks like Austin.

[LindseyLohan]

I think they should leave the old apartments. Not everyone can afford a $1000 one bedroom. It's nice to know there is something that the service industry employees of the plaza have something affordable rentals near by.

[chrizow]

I think they should leave the old apartments. Not everyone can afford a $1000 one bedroom. It's nice to know there is something that the service industry employees of the plaza have something affordable rentals near by.

i sympathize with that sentiment.  in one sense it's great that one can live 2 blocks from the most "prestigious" area in the metro inexpensively...however, at the same time, it's also pretty bizarre and sort of pathetic in a way that a large radius around the plaza isn't 100% gentrified.  it's odd that there are $600/mo apartments across from $1M condos.  of course, the cheap rentals are becoming more scarce whereas the upscale condos are not.

[GRID]

This is a great project that will add a ton of density to the plaza area.  Awesome developers, great architects and a high quality development that I believe won't be asking for a tif, only chapter 353 (which already exists for this land).

This project will also actually get done so we don't have to worry about tearing down something and having it sit vacant for decades.

I think we need to get over the retail fetish.  Downtown has retail everywhere and most of it is vacant or underused.  There have been plenty mixed use projects in the plaza area to include ground level retail.  West Edge, Plaza Colonnade etc.

I'm not trying to be an ass here, but for once, can we say.  Nice job, this will be a great project!

Now, if we could get something like this to go up east of the Sprint Center, I would just crap my pants.

[FangKC]

Yes, we need residents more than retail.  If you drive around that neighborhood, you will see it's not really set up for retail anyway. It's mostly houses and apartments.  It's actually okay to have people just living on a street and not shopping there.