KCRag Forum

Fresh from building a super-green apartment complex from scratch, developer Jonathan Arnold is tackling a very different project, renovating a massive, century-old building into affordable housing.

Arnold wants to convert the historic National Cloak and Suit Company building at 5401 Independence Ave. into 352 apartments at an estimated cost of $120 million. The majority would be affordable to households earning 60 percent or less of area median income (AMI).
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At 60 percent AMI, a one-person household would have to earn $36,420 or less; two-person, $41,580, and three-person, $46,800, to be eligible for an affordable unit at the Historic Northeast Lofts project.

The old National Cloak building, now being used for storage, is one of several properties on an 18-acre Hardesty site that includes four massive, vacant warehouse buildings totaling 1 million square feet.
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“Our plan is to build residences in the tall building and bring in the amenities we learned are in high demand from Second and Delaware,” he said.

Those include a rooftop garden, landscaped courtyards, some three- to four bedroom units that could be used by families or work-live space and a possible food hall featuring local vendors, according to documents filed with the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority.
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If the necessary approvals and financing is obtained, Arnold said construction on the Historic Northeast Lofts project could begin before the end of the year with completion anticipated in 2024.
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These improvements include $4.4 million in overall site work, $63 million redevelopment of building #1 into 352 apartment units, and $4.2 million redevelopment of building #11 for self-storage and community oriented uses, and $9 million redevelopment of buildings #9 and 10 for self-storage and community oriented uses.
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Of the 352 units, Arnold Development plans 77 studios, 133 one bedrooms, 108 two bedrooms, 18 three bedrooms and 16 four bedrooms.


“We have been awarded tax credits from MHDC that 60% of the units would be for 60% of AMI and below, and the rest of the project would be technically unrestricted, but those units would be most likely serving the needs of workforce housing, what is oftentimes referred to as the missing middle, people who don’t qualify for affordable [housing], but they can’t afford to live at the market rate rent rates of downtown,” Arnold said.
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In its dotage, the lumbering National Cloak and Suit Co. facility at the corner of Independence and Hardesty avenues served as a dusty storage facility.

So it is fitting that Jonathan Arnold would put massive energy “storage” — revolutionary battery technology that will push us toward a renewable power future — into his housing plans for the site.

Also in Arnold’s blueprints, the 12-story building and four warehouse buildings that flank it will be bristling with more than 2 megawatts of solar power. The leading edge energy technology will give technological sizzle to an area of the city that has been hibernating for decades.

Arnold, fast becoming an international star in sustainable housing development, this spring announced plans to invest $120 million to transform the century-old complex into 352 apartments with a healthy inventory of affordable housing on the 18-acre site.
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For the Independence and Hardesty housing development, Arnold said he plans to generate a massive 1.1 megawatts of rooftop solar power plus an additional 1.24 megawatts on the ground.

That is a total of more than 2.3 megawatts, about eight times the amount of power generated in the River Market project. Even though the solar generation will be huge it will not totally satisfy the energy needs of the site.
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The Historic Northeast Lofts will offer 414 of the 500 apartments at affordable rates for households making 30 to 80% of the Metro Area Median Income (AMI). There will be no difference between the affordable and market rate units.


“We have 90 units that meet the 30 to 40% threshold, 134 in the 50 to 60%, 151 in the 70% and then 39 at 80%,” Arnold said. “We’ll be able to be flexible, but everything has to be below 60% on average. We have studios to four bedrooms.”
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The fifth floor of the main building will have the only two-story “live-work” apartment units. There will be housing in every building on the property. A 30,000-square foot daycare will be located on the ground floor of the main building. Arnold Development estimates the third-party business will be able to care for 300 children per year. In addition, the property can rent out 45,000 square feet of restaurant space, 35,000 square feet of retail and shopping space, 42,000 square feet to renewable energy sales, and 52,000 square feet of space for small businesses.
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“By developing mixed-income housing near transit, you would have the ability to let people maybe drop the car, if they can get to their job, and so one of the ways of addressing income inequality and inability to build wealth is allow people to live near a place where they can use transit and rely less on automobile transportation,” Arnold said. “And so if you can drop a car and use more rideshare or transit, you could potentially save $400 a month.”
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langosta wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 12:29 pm Build a train to it!

Cratedigger wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 12:51 pm [quote=langosta post_id=657337 time=<a href="tel:1680715783">1680715783</a> user_id=231772]
Build a train to it!

FlippantCitizen wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 4:10 pm

Cratedigger wrote: ↑Wed Apr 05, 2023 12:51 pm

langosta wrote: Build a train to it!

Whatever happened to the BRT funding from Cleaver?

True, I haven’t heard a peep about the “bi-state corridor” in probably a year.

bspecht wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 4:27 pm Rezoning to UR Development Plan submitted, no attachments yet. TIF goes in front of Finance committee tomorrow.
https://compasskc.kcmo.org/EnerGov_Prod ... df5613b94a
https://clerk.kcmo.gov/LegislationDetai ... FullText=1

moderne wrote: ↑Sat Mar 23, 2024 4:21 pm Is that a roof top pool or just an awning? This is going to be a big shot in the arm for the Northeast, Independence Ave, even Truman Rd.

Roughly eighteen months after first announcing the concept for the Historic Northeast Lofts project at the old Hardesty Federal facility at Independence and Hardesty Avenues, developer Jonathan Arnold is finally seeing a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel and has a tentative, Fall 2024 groundbreaking date on the project that will completely reimagine the 22-acre site.
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