Office project at 27th & Main

[normalthings]

It's on a major transit line. Incentives to pay for 5 floors of parking is absurd. Let them walk.

Does not mean much when you can’t get to your house in the suburbs via transit

[normalthings]

I mean certainly the sprint campus originally got incentives, and then got incentives again to revamp the buildings once Sprint consolidated and half the campus got leased out to firms moving there from MO. But, outside of that, do typical buildings with structured parking get incentives?

Yes, KS has given incentives for projects big and small.

[DaveKCMO]

It's on a major transit line. Incentives to pay for 5 floors of parking is absurd. Let them walk.

Does not mean much when you can’t get to your house in the suburbs via transit

You actually can. We need to stop pretending the bus network doesn't exist.

[Anthony_Hugo98]

It's on a major transit line. Incentives to pay for 5 floors of parking is absurd. Let them walk.

Does not mean much when you can’t get to your house in the suburbs via transit

You actually can. We need to stop pretending the bus network doesn't exist.

If more people ride it, more demand is seen, frequency increase. This increase reliability so more people ride, frequency again increases. It’s a positive feedback loop

[earthling]

I mean certainly the sprint campus originally got incentives, and then got incentives again to revamp the buildings once Sprint consolidated and half the campus got leased out to firms moving there from MO. But, outside of that, do typical buildings with structured parking get incentives?

Yes, KS has given incentives for projects big and small.

The more specific question is... Has KS given incentives to a company moving less than a mile away within same city. And should they have. A: Only if the project provides significant public benefit.

[chaglang]

It's on a major transit line. Incentives to pay for 5 floors of parking is absurd. Let them walk.

Does not mean much when you can’t get to your house in the suburbs via transit

Tough shit. Guess that's the price of moving to 237th and Quivera.

[FangKC]

Council Committee Supports $83.4M Insurance Firm HQ Plan

Fidelity Security Life’s proposed 11-story headquarters project at 27th and Main had its incentive request endorsed unanimously Wednesday by a City Council committee over the objections of the nearby Union Hill neighborhood.
...
The developer estimated the project, with the property tax reduction, would generate $9.2 million in revenues for the city and taxing jurisdictions over the 15-year life of the incentive deal. Without the project, the property would generate $946,000 during the same period.

Attorney David Frantze, who represented the developer, said clawbacks in the agreement guarantee maintaining the payroll of the FSL employees, which average $82,500, and a minimum $75 million capital investment.
...
The design architect for the project is Pei Cobb Freed, a renowned national firm, and local firm BNIM is the architect of record. HOK is listed as the tenant architect.
...
The incentive package now goes to the full City Council for final consideration, probably next week. The entire development still must go through rezoning and be considered by the City Plan Commission.

If the final development plan is approved by the Council, construction would likely begin in early Fall 2022 with completion in 22 months.

https://cityscenekc.com/council-committ ... ZzD2mD2_-4

[normalthings]

It's on a major transit line. Incentives to pay for 5 floors of parking is absurd. Let them walk.

Does not mean much when you can’t get to your house in the suburbs via transit

Tough shit. Guess that's the price of moving to 237th and Quivera.

Its a lot easier to get a finance job out in JoCo than it is downtown.

Even taking the bus to a house near downtown OP is a ~1 hour ride vs a 25 minute drive. It's not unknown that KC's transit funding is poor and service levels (frequency and breadth) are poor. Putting jobs in JOCO appears to be easier and cheaper so fighting one of the few firms dedicated to downtown is counter-productive. Its an empty field right now

[TheBigChuckbowski]

It's on a major transit line. Incentives to pay for 5 floors of parking is absurd. Let them walk.

Does not mean much when you can’t get to your house in the suburbs via transit

There are three giant surface lots within two blocks that sit nearly empty 365 days/year.

[earthling]

The project needs to restart from scratch. Build an element that is engaging to the neighborhood and streetcar traffice, provides public services at a larger base that is more TOD oriented with a tower on top of public oriented base. Then it would justify incentives.

[normalthings]

It's on a major transit line. Incentives to pay for 5 floors of parking is absurd. Let them walk.

Does not mean much when you can’t get to your house in the suburbs via transit

There are three giant surface lots within two blocks that sit nearly empty 365 days/year.

We should all be aware of the dangers of locking up surface lots to park neighboring developments. Regardless, CC wants that land developed and has even listed one of those large parcels.

[beautyfromashes]

Instant money maker for the city. The vote should be yes.

[smh]

It's a bad project and they should feel bad.

[Anthony_Hugo98]

It's a bad project and they should feel bad.

Very bad

[TheBigChuckbowski]

Does not mean much when you can’t get to your house in the suburbs via transit

There are three giant surface lots within two blocks that sit nearly empty 365 days/year.

We should all be aware of the dangers of locking up surface lots to park neighboring developments. Regardless, CC wants that land developed and has even listed one of those large parcels.

I get it. How about the city promises to incentivize a future garage for the last parcel to get developed (assuming WFH policies + streetcar access even necessitate that level of parking in the future)? Deal?

It's ludicrous to incentivize parking with thousands of empty parking spots across the street at a streetcar stop.

[AlkaliAxel]

So the way I see it, if we have them use the nearby surface lots instead of the garage they build- then in the future if we want to build on those surface lots we can't, because that's the only place for them to park their cars. I say just let them build their little garage so we can salvage those surface parking lots later.

And I agree with normalthings- need to get more finance downtown, big time. Can't say no.

[GRID]

Pretty bad design and use of the land, but KCMO has to bend over for this. Not much of a choice. Is there any chance the rest of the land will be developed, such as the south side of 27th? Seems like a waste to have a massive grass lot there.

[TheBigChuckbowski]

So the way I see it, if we have them use the nearby surface lots instead of the garage they build- then in the future if we want to build on those surface lots we can't, because that's the only place for them to park their cars. I say just let them build their little garage so we can salvage those surface parking lots later.

And I agree with normalthings- need to get more finance downtown, big time. Can't say no.

Why exactly can't a garage be built on those surface lots if they're developed? Hallmark owns and controls everything, the city can broker a shared parking agreement. We're not talking about cobbling together enough spaces between 20 different owners. Incentivizing a parking garage there for jobs to move a mile makes absolutely no sense.

Also, there are already a couple massive parking garages to the south and east of these parking lots with thousands more empty spots just sitting there.

[GRID]

The garage is probably fine there, but it should be a shared garage and that development should be a mixed use, TOD. Use more of the land.

Keep the office tower, but move the garage to the center of the property and wrap it with a 5-7 story apartment building at the very least. Maybe even some ground floor retail. That is a perfect spot for a mixed use TOD. Why does everything have to be single use, even in the middle of the city?

Then incentives make a lot more sense. You are getting a development that actually improves the city, not just some more jobs.

[earthling]

The City should negotiate even better incentives as long as they change design to create ground level public services maybe even move some City public facing services (same years as life of incentives deal) to base of building. Should have a large enough base to face both Grand and Main but especially Grand. Don't care about the garage, it's a fact of life even in cities with far better metro-wide transit than KC, not a battle worth fighting.

But we can't allow incentives for a private island that doesn't really improve the city, especially along streetcar line and moving jobs only a mile away. A one story building here with public interaction would be much better than a private island skyscraper that creates some lunch business for Crown Center (that's unfortunately only a slight exaggeration).