Discuss items in the urban core outside of Downtown as described above. Everything in the core including the east side (18th & Vine area), Northeast, Plaza, Westport, Brookside, Valentine, Waldo, 39th street, & the entire midtown area.
New developers have marched toward construction of a catalytic $200 million mixed-use project at a swath of land around Kansas City's Citadel neighborhood that has seen more than a decade of dereliction and previous failed attempts.
UrbanAmerica, a minority-owned development and investment management company based in Miami, Florida, proposes just over 1 million square feet of new construction for its SouthPointe at 63rd Street development, just north of Research Medical Center, northwest of 63rd Street and Prospect Avenue.
A conceptual master plan contemplates 17 structures across 25.62 acres, including a central multifamily complex; multiple street-facing medical office and retail buildings; grocery, entertainment and big-box businesses; parking garages; and an 120-room extended-stay hotel to the south.
PIEA members unanimously approved a general development plan and qualification analysis with a new blight finding for the future project site. Several other measures, including development, PIEA and TIF incentive plans and a rezoning request are expected to follow in three to four months, city officials have said.
The project's apartments are to be subject to Kansas City's new ordinance requiring at least 20% of units to be set aside for affordable housing.
It's conceptual. Would dump the big box G/H location and move the parking garages there, big box might still work within. Ideally all buildings along 63rd and Prospect would be retail/office ground level and residential above. Needs some tweaks but above average for what is essentially closer to new urbanism. At least there doesn't' appear to be setbacks along 63rd or Propect. Need to see streetlevel renderings but doesn't look like a terrible street level experience.
Great news for E Side overall and ties into Prospect MAX line. Hundreds of millions being poured into E Side last several years. Not a common thing in comparable cities.
In 2003, the Community Development Corporation of Kansas City, or CDC-KC, a non-profit, made and implemented a plan for the TIF and redevelopment area along with the Land Use and Development Plan adopted for the 63rd street corridor in 2002. The plan was going to cost $103 million and included 250,000 square feet of retail space and over 300 new housing units. The CDC-KC was granted money through federal funds to buy up and demolish all of the older homes for the redevelopment project titled: Citadel Plaza. The demolition of about 140 homes all built before the 1970’s took about three years until the summer of 2006 when concerns about asbestos contamination halted the demolition (Dillon and Horsley, 2006). No asbestos inspections had taken place before the demolition of the homes, as well nothing happened to contain the asbestos. As the demolition process went on, there were also many occurrences of illegal dumping (at one point upwards of 20 truckloads). In August of 2006, the health department of Kansas City confirmed that samples of the area tested positive for asbestos, both above and below ground (Dillon, 2006). After state and federal lawsuits, the city finally reached a settlement in 2012 and clean up started in early 2014. In 2015, the cleanup was completed and in 2016, the city started, like it did in 2014, to market the area to developers and hoped for bids to redevelop the site. This included a redevelopment plan from DRAW Architecture firm.
Looks like someone was a little too optimistic with the tree icon in developer. I kind of wish we held builders to their landscaping plans as much as their square footage and building layout.
beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 3:38 pm
Looks like someone was a little too optimistic with the tree icon in developer. I kind of wish we held builders to their landscaping plans as much as their square footage and building layout.
^Miami developer. FL tends to use a lot more landscaping depending on location, even Walmart parking lots can be loaded with landscaping.
Might need to take developer with grain of salt. It lists KC's 18th/Vine EVE project as active project on their site but that was proposed several years ago and don't think it's gone anywhere. I don't think the Orlando project listed happened either.
earthling wrote: ↑Thu Jul 15, 2021 3:55 pm
Might need to take developer with grain of salt. It lists KC's 18th/Vine EVE project as active project on their site but that was years ago and don't think it's gone anywhere. I don't think the Orlando project listed happened either.
The city received a federal grant and they plan on an overlay for the corridor, but it sounds like this project might get in under the wire. Otherwise, existing zoning rules and it could be Town Center Plaza if they wanted.
^Depends on how you define it but in general no and doesn't really happen significantly in KC. To me gentrification happens to existing functional areas and many are pushed out. This project fills an empty lot of dumped tires, will include affordable units, bring broader retail and hopefully bring nearby dilapidated/abandoned homes to life. You need a mix of demographics with a bit higher enough net median income to draw/support a range of retail but need right kind of balance not to push out people from their neighborhood. Would be nice if more housing included in project, such as 6+ units above each of the streetfront buildings, but maybe it will attract more affordable units mixed with market rate along Prospect MAX line. This might attract some hospital workers but don't imagine it pushing out most existing living in area.
And yes, if this project becomes a catalyst, some existing rental homes might be upgraded with occupants pushed out for higher rent but there's a reasonable line between pushing most out and getting a better mix that creates higher functioning neighborhoods. Hard to imagine most existing being pushed out, but some might be. That's not quite gentrification.
Maybe. Gentrification is a fun discussion because everyone brings their own definition. If you look at property values, yes, this development will be more valuable than the current vacant lots. The question will be whether the benefits in terms of new housing, affordable housing, and new retail outweigh that.
