KCRag Forum

The design of the first apartment building in MAC Properties planned $78 million Armour Corners redevelopment won support from the City Plan Commission Wednesday after its developer noted it had passed the “squint test.”

Peter Cassel of Chicago-based MAC said a consultant who assisted in the design of the seven-story building planned for 520 E. Armour offered a pragmatic way to gauge whether it blended with its historic neighbors.

“We were told to design it so when you squint your eyes, you can’t tell the difference between the new and old buildings,” he told the Plan Commission.

The Commission unanimously endorsed the design and if, as expected, it’s approved by the City Council next month, construction should begin early next summer with a summer 2020 completion. Helix Architecture + Design is the architect.
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Armour Crossing Development Increases Parking But Some Neighbors Want More

MAC Properties has expanded the development site of its planned $78 million Armour Crossing apartment to provide more parking, but is still facing pushback from some neighbors on the issue.
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Peter Cassel of MAC told the board of the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority last week the land will allow his firm to add another 35- to 45 parking spaces to the 170 already planned for Armour Corners.

The additional land to be used for surface parking includes two vacant lots and a pre-war six-unit apartment building at 3429 S. Harrison that will be razed.
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Pete Hughes, president of the Center City Neighborhood Association, said the additional parking was a good first step, but fell short of the neighborhood’s desire to have a .8 parking space per unit ratio for the project.

The current MAC plan, including the additional spaces off Harrison, would be about .6 per unit.

Hughes suggest MAC build structure parking for the project. The ratio desired by his association would require slightly more than 270 total spaces for the project.

“We feel a couple million (dollars) for structured parking is doable,” he said.

Cassel said structured parking would be too costly, adding that a .5 ratio has worked in other apartment projects along Armour developed by MAC.
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In a related matter, Cassel said work should begin by July on another apartment building that’s part of the Armour Crossing development but located a couple blocks away at 520 E. Armour. It’s a seven-story, 110-unit apartment project.
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FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:26 pm

Armour Crossing Development Increases Parking But Some Neighbors Want More

MAC Properties has expanded the development site of its planned $78 million Armour Crossing apartment to provide more parking, but is still facing pushback from some neighbors on the issue.
...
Peter Cassel of MAC told the board of the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority last week the land will allow his firm to add another 35- to 45 parking spaces to the 170 already planned for Armour Corners.

The additional land to be used for surface parking includes two vacant lots and a pre-war six-unit apartment building at 3429 S. Harrison that will be razed.
...
Pete Hughes, president of the Center City Neighborhood Association, said the additional parking was a good first step, but fell short of the neighborhood’s desire to have a .8 parking space per unit ratio for the project.

The current MAC plan, including the additional spaces off Harrison, would be about .6 per unit.

Hughes suggest MAC build structure parking for the project. The ratio desired by his association would require slightly more than 270 total spaces for the project.

“We feel a couple million (dollars) for structured parking is doable,” he said.

Cassel said structured parking would be too costly, adding that a .5 ratio has worked in other apartment projects along Armour developed by MAC.
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In a related matter, Cassel said work should begin by July on another apartment building that’s part of the Armour Crossing development but located a couple blocks away at 520 E. Armour. It’s a seven-story, 110-unit apartment project.
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https://tinyurl.com/ybnzlbdx

Pete Hughes, president of the Center City Neighborhood Association, said the additional parking was a good first step, but fell short of the neighborhood’s desire to have a .8 parking space per unit ratio for the project.

The current MAC plan, including the additional spaces off Harrison, would be about .6 per unit.

Hughes suggest MAC build structure parking for the project. The ratio desired by his association would require slightly more than 270 total spaces for the project.

“We feel a couple million (dollars) for structured parking is doable,” he said.

Cassel said structured parking would be too costly, adding that a .5 ratio has worked in other apartment projects along Armour developed by MAC.

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:03 pm And hey, good on you Center City for causing an existing apartment building to be demolished for solve your parking obsession. Tear apartments down to build apartments. Geez.

3429 S. Harrison--six units.

tower wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:11 pm Or ask them to donate their homes for the parking lot.

AlbertHammond wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:26 pm

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:03 pm And hey, good on you Center City for causing an existing apartment building to be demolished for solve your parking obsession. Tear apartments down to build apartments. Geez.

3429 S. Harrison--six units.

When I see this photo of a doomed older apartment building, I see an affordable housing opportunity being lost. We are so focused on building "new" affordable housing that we can't see it when its right in front of us.

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:46 pm

AlbertHammond wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:26 pm

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:03 pm And hey, good on you Center City for causing an existing apartment building to be demolished for solve your parking obsession. Tear apartments down to build apartments. Geez.

3429 S. Harrison--six units.

When I see this photo of a doomed older apartment building, I see an affordable housing opportunity being lost. We are so focused on building "new" affordable housing that we can't see it when its right in front of us.

The exterior of this building looks solid. It's not only the loss of existing affordable apartments, it's the waste of functional buildings that end up in landfill. The energy to create this building in 1920 is still up in our atmosphere warming the planet. The greenest buildings are older ones that already exist, and the thick brick walls provide natural mass, and reduce heating and cooling costs. Sure, it might need to have the windows resealed, and more efficient boiler. It's also got a good-sized flat roof for solar.

FangKC wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:03 pm

Mac Properties plans to renovate the former American Red Cross building at 211 W. Armour Blvd. into 61 apartments, the latest installment in the firm’s ongoing transformation of the Armour corridor in midtown.

The proposed $11.7 million project would expand the Chicago-based firm’s apartment portfolio along Armour. Over the past decade, Mac has redeveloped 28 historic buildings, creating 1,700 apartments in a 15-block corridor from Campbell Street to Broadway.

Mac also plans to break ground this summer on an apartment building at 520 E. Armour, part of a larger, 450-unit Armour Corners project in the works for the intersection of Armour and Troost.
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