KCRag Forum

Yeah, the others we already know about, but is there recent activity for Wash Sq Park?

http://www.coenpartners.com/washington_square.html

http://urbanangle.net/a-new-vision-for- ... uare-park/

Has anything happened with this thing since 2014?

wow, I've never seen these concepts before but this needed to happen like yesterday. We have no quality outdoor meeting space with art like this in kansas city. This is like a mini Millennium Park in Chicago. It would get soooo much traffic being right off of the streetcar's main stop.

it's waiting on an infusion of capital -- public or private.

IMO they should just create a conservancy and make it a really well programmed park.

Maybe they will make part of the North Loop into a "Mini Millenium Park"

DaveKCMO wrote:it's waiting on an infusion of capital -- public or private.

IMO they should just create a conservancy and make it a really well programmed park.

Yes, once they develop that extra land, they can't ever get it back. It's a good size, they just need to figure out how to redo it.

I hate to keep beating this drum, but given the insanely limited resources in this city for these types of public amenities/infrastructure, I would love to see such an "infusion of capital" supplied to Penn Valley Park. It could really be something special with the right plan and enough dollars to implement.

However there seems to be zero desire to make anything happen there, which is a shame given it's existing amenities, topography and views.

^While I agree, downtown has more pressing need for a highly functional 'park square' at a pedestrian scale mixed in with the street vibe, especially along the streetcar line, which Wash Sq Park is. And is a good transition to Crown Center for those riding streetcar.

Instead of repeating myself I'll refer back to this post showing the type of urban park Wash Sq Park can easily become with some attention and $. This is Rittenhouse Sq Park in Philly..
http://kcrag.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=19440#p527856

I view Washington Square Park as something like Boston Common or it's neighbor and Penn Valley as more like Central Park.

Both are very well done but are different kinds of parks.

Boston Common is still quite a bit bigger and more on scale with Loose Park. Rittenhouse Sq in Philly is more comparable in size to Wash Sq Park and manicured more nicely in way I could see WSP realistically become.

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1280& ... 98qcoanDnY

The businesses around WSP including Hallmark may be willing to contribute to manicuring to this degree if they could realize how fantastic that park could become.

UrbanKC wrote:http://www.coenpartners.com/washington_square.html

http://urbanangle.net/a-new-vision-for- ... uare-park/

Has anything happened with this thing since 2014?

This should be one of the top priorities for KCMO. What if the city were to make this part of a bigger project to improve recreation? Riverfront trails, Capping I-670 etc? KC is still pretty far behind the curve on urban recreation and these are exactly the types of projects that the city needs. Even a ferris wheel would be nice in KC. As cheesy as they are, they are really nice tourist attractions. Plus KC is a very neat city from the air. They are getting quite popular, but many cities are putting them in stupid places (DC and Atlanta come to mind). A wheel in KC at Berkley park, or Penn Valley Park would have some really cool views of the city.

Just saying. I would like to see KC do a major urban recreational infrastructure project that would fix Washington Sq park, improve Penn Valley, Case and Berkely, involve WyCo and tie everything to Kaw Point, build levee trails and bike lanes etc.

Similar to projects in Portland, Denver, Columbus, Indianapolis etc. So much potential there with the rivers and under utilized parks.

focus has apparently shifted to more of a residential/office mix, instead of just office.

Still looks to be in a very early conceptual stage. Would hope they don't make every building look the same (re: 'The Projects'). Any progress with financing this?

I liked the first rendering more. I feel like downtown needs more attractions. Offices are great and all but but i feel like that location next to crown center and union station needs to be an attraction like some kind of museum or national draw.

Or maybe a simple tasteful ride added to the park, such as a classic old school horse carousel as long as it can be maintained. Would make for a more connected experience/transition between US and CC if it draws people. A more major attraction not a bad idea mixed with that location though, something different than what US/CC/Liberty Memorial offers. Surrounding the US streetcar stop with attractions makes sense.

here's another shot of one of the slides from yesterday's presentation to downtown council committees:

It seems reasonable that any development in Washington Park should go UP rather than the sprawled campus in the rendering.
The park could still mostly be kept intact if 2 taller (high-rise) mixed-use buildings (office/residential) were built.
The new residents (along with the new res project on the south side of CC) could take advantage of the park, increase streetcar use and provide security for the park at the same time.

I was hoping it might include a full cap over the train tracks so you don't even know they are there. But that would be expensive. At least they are planning a bridge.

NorthOak wrote:It seems reasonable that any development in Washington Park should go UP rather than the sprawled campus in the rendering.
The park could still mostly be kept intact if 2 taller (high-rise) mixed-use buildings (office/residential) were built.
The new residents (along with the new res project on the south side of CC) could take advantage of the park, increase streetcar use and provide security for the park at the same time.

One of the goals of the projects is to make the park oriented more to the north/south and provide access over the tracks into the crossroads. So I think you're idea works, but I'd move the buildings to face Grand to keep the north/south park axis.

Midtownkid wrote:I was hoping it might include a full cap over the train tracks so you don't even know they are there. But that would be expensive. At least they are planning a bridge.

don't count on the bridge. it's a pricey addition.