KCRag Forum

There is a connection to the Plaza. It's called Cleaver Boulevard, and it does have sidewalks.

One can also walk across the Oak Street bridge to UMKC.

It would have been great if the Nelson could have worked with the streetcar expansion folks to promote a Plaza/Arts central waypoint along the streetcar stop at Cleaver II and Main. I feel like the Plaza and the Nelson should band together to come up with a combined plan for making the Broadway to Main stretch more pedestrian friendly. Personally, I'd like to see 47th eliminated between Broadway and Main. It is a clusterf$%^& currently, and there is no reason why that Northbound Ward Parkway traffic cannot be rerouted to South of the tennis courts (preferably all the way across to the South end of Brush Creek).

The Nelson could also try to get something creative going along the sidewalk from Mill Creek Park to the museum (like a more permanent Jeane-Claude and Christo - Central Park - Gates). Also, if they do what flyingmember suggested and put some offices in the tennis club space, they could even run a shuttle from the stop to the museum for people who aren't up to the walk or for the winter time.

Spot-zoning passed by the neighborhood forbids the use of tennis courts by just about anything the museum would propose.

kcjak wrote:Spot-zoning passed by the neighborhood forbids the use of tennis courts by just about anything the museum would propose.

except a road! nice move, rockhill!

What the Nelson really should do is buy the old H&R Block building on Main. Use it for administrative offices. Pin in the Kemper Museum and buy them out in a decade when they need more space and move downtown. A collaboration between the two would be ideal, but it would probably never happen.

bobbyhawks wrote:Personally, I'd like to see 47th eliminated between Broadway and Main. It is a clusterf$%^& currently, and there is no reason why that Northbound Ward Parkway traffic cannot be rerouted to South of the tennis courts (preferably all the way across to the South end of Brush Creek).

The Nelson could also try to get something creative going along the sidewalk from Mill Creek Park to the museum (like a more permanent Jeane-Claude and Christo - Central Park - Gates). Also, if they do what flyingmember suggested and put some offices in the tennis club space, they could even run a shuttle from the stop to the museum for people who aren't up to the walk or for the winter time.

I meant the tennis courts literally across the street from the museum on Rockhill. not that a shuttle is a bad idea. I could see a museum distict (Kemper + Nelson + UMKC toy/minature) shuttle working to the plaza.

The feds are involved with any changes you might make Broadway to Main at the Plaza to reroute traffic. For anyone that forgets the route of US 56, Google Maps is accurate as to the current route, it's moved at least once over the years.

https://www.google.com/maps/preview?saf ... IUBEPwSMAw

Seems moving a street would require city approval.

flyingember wrote:The feds are involved with any changes you might make Broadway to Main at the Plaza to reroute traffic. For anyone that forgets the route of US 56, Google Maps is accurate as to the current route, it's moved at least once over the years.

It is pretty amazing to me that what is probably the heaviest average foot traffic in the city (47th through the Plaza) is also technically a US highway. There is no rhyme or reason at the moment for why it swings through the Plaza via 47th. Maybe the roads were different in the 50's or they wanted people to stop in the plaza area, but that jog is seriously confusing. I don't know if it gives the CCP more ability to secure funds for road maintenance or something, but it couldn't be that difficult to realign 56 with Ward Parkway straight into Volker.

Why does US-56 even need to continue to US-71? Why not terminate it at I-35 in Kansas?

Missouri wants that federal money.

A few points of reference from a former NAMA employee (and current neighbor) - the museum actually used to have offices in the American Century-owned tower at 44th and Main. They were extremely eager, after the opening of the Bloch Building opened up some space (largely in the basement of the 1933 building) to get employees out of rented office space and back onto the same campus as the museum and the rest of the staff. I can't see them ever wanting to do that again. The spot-zoning not only eliminated the possibility of renovating the former Rockhill Tennis Club into offices (which was the hope), but also eliminated the use of the Bishop House (on the north side of the museum) as staff offices, which it had been used for for a number of years. They also have extensive offsite storage - mostly in underground facilities around the city. I'm sure it's the case that they're seeing it as much cost effective in the long run, and simply more convenient, to have those on site.

All that being said, I kinda hate this plan. I absolutely agree that measures should be taken to make the 47th Street/Cleaver route from the Plaza, and the cross to Theis Park, a lot more pedestrian friendly. I suspect the hotel is in response to the surprisingly large number of people who visit KC specifically to visit the museum, as well as the number of researchers who visit - but of course, it's absurd to feel that you can't put them up happily at the very good hotels half a mile down the road.

Is the Southmoreland Park used very much besides Shakespeare in the Park? It seems that there is plenty of park space in that area and they could move the Shakespeare location to a current Nelson or Theis Park location easily. I'd much rather them take that park and build a nice building for administration then start bulldozing historic homes.

It also seems that the Nelson people didn't plan ahead very well. There was space where the botanical garden is now, the Kauffman Foundation, all the suburban-type apartments on Oak St., even the Kemper Space before 1994.

Maybe the historic houses could become the hotel. Sort of like a B&B? Expensive hotel with actual art in the rooms??

I wish they could build on the empty lot across from the QT on Main.

the H&R Block retail outlet & sea-of-parking at 43rd and Main is prime for a redevelopment. (Though the Nelson doesn't own it, yet.)

Ugly ass office building & parking structure at NE corner of Clever II and Main could go, no one would miss it.

I can think of a thousand better places for that hotel. I always thought it was so interesting and appropriate for KC to have single family mansions across from the Nelson as opposed to some huge building.

lock+load wrote:Seems moving a street would require city approval.

+ parks. rockhill is a boulevard.

Midtownkid wrote:Maybe the historic houses could become the hotel. Sort of like a B&B? Expensive hotel with actual art in the rooms??

We stayed at Porches Inn next to MASS MoCA in N. Adams, MA several years back. (An awesome stay, by the way.) The museum bought these old run-down houses, merged the porches together and restored/modified them into a hotel. It was fabulously done and a great template for other places.
http://www.porches.com/
The story: http://www.porches.com/about/the_story
https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=porches%20inn
Aerial: https://goo.gl/maps/jrcZo

Here is a comparison of the opportunity to turn those historic homes into a hotel, using the MASS MoCA concept. Connect the four homes together in a discreet and beautiful way and they preserve the great homes while getting their hotel across the street. In many respects, the NAMA opportunity is far better than the bland homes on the butt side that MASS MoCA has to work with. The NAMA homes are at the front door and are architecturally very nice.

I like you suggestion very much, Slim. I wish the museum had any sort of creativity on this plan of theirs. What they released is almost embarrassingly under developed, unimaginative and insensitive to the area.

Though I will say the limitations the neighborhood placed on the Tennis club site is just as ridiculous. They are guaranteeing that site will sit as is in perpetuity.

slimwhitman wrote:Here is a comparison of the opportunity to turn those historic homes into a hotel, using the MASS MoCA concept. Connect the four homes together in a discreet and beautiful way and they preserve the great homes while getting their hotel across the street.

there's actually a model in KC for this that shows it can be done.

NW corner of 11th and Pennslyvania.

you can see what I mean in google street view. it doesn't even pretend to be historic correct but instead creates an atrium type of space.

could do similar to connect the homes and then do a more classic period-appropriate add-on to each structure for rooms

As a longtime neighborhood resident, I am excited about the possibilities here. Without having reviewed the entire plan yet, I'll withhold judgement, but I love seeing the Nelson expanding and more importantly showing some big-league vision.

That being said, tearing down the homes to the north is unacceptable.

The former Rockhill club is a joke and needs to be repurposed in an interesting and neighborhood compatible way ASAP. With that parcel, the surrounding parkland, and the many major amenities in the area (plaza/kemper/kcai, B&Bs, etc), this is a huge opportunity to further elevate KC's cultural scene.

RE: hotel, I'd LOVE to see a hotel/condos next to the Nelson, ideally on the surface lot immediately to the north of the Bloch building, and ideally designed by Steven Holl to complement it. I've long imagined that. Denver I believe has something similar with a Libeskind residential development immediately adjacent to the new DMA expansion.

Final note - while thinking about Rockhill - do we have any Crestwood or Brookside residents that know what's going on with the club's search for a new home. I remember a plan for a new club in Crestwood and then some rumors of a reuse of the former Bryant School. Would love to see them get a new home ASAP - hoping neighbors aren't issues here.