Main & Armour - Mac Properties

[DaveKCMO]

Midtown doesn't need high rises. They would just be accompanied by monster garages, which Kansas City also doesn't need. All of that would lead to even higher rents or subsidies.

You can have density without high rises. This project is the perfect example of it.

[normalthings]

Midtown doesn't need high rises. They would just be accompanied by monster garages, which Kansas City also doesn't need. All of that would lead to even higher rents or subsidies.

You can have density without high rises. This project is the perfect example of it.

This MAC project appears to be a highrise based on proposed height

[Chris Stritzel]

Midtown doesn't need high rises. They would just be accompanied by monster garages, which Kansas City also doesn't need. All of that would lead to even higher rents or subsidies.

You can have density without high rises. This project is the perfect example of it.

This MAC project appears to be a highrise based on proposed height

By definition it is, but I personally see this as a mid-rise, rather than a high-rise. When I think of a high-rise, I think of buildings like the Light towers.

[KCtoBrooklyn]

When I said "highrise" I wasn't quite thinking the height of the Lights, but maybe a bit more than 10 stories. Something more like the nearby Edelman and Thompson building. How many stories is that? 12? 14?

[earthling]

Midtown doesn't need high rises. They would just be accompanied by monster garages, which Kansas City also doesn't need. All of that would lead to even higher rents or subsidies.

You can have density without high rises. This project is the perfect example of it.

Can appreciate that perspective if you mean no more hirises anymore anywhere in city (decent density w/out hirises is doable afterall) but are you saying it's OK for downtown or Plaza to have more hirises but not Midtown?

[FlippantCitizen]

Not sure what technically qualifies as high rise nor do I know who would authoritatively define that. On a personal level I would have a hard time defining anything less than about 15 floors as solidly high rise. I think we can accomplish everything we need on Main with buildings 12 floors or less. Midrise density for Midtown. We could 10x the density of Midtown without any towers. Personally I would not be a fan of isolated towers surrounded by neighborhoods of SFH and colonnades. 8-12 floors seems great for the character of midtown on the big corridors. Then fill in the neighborhoods with new townhomes, duplex-6 plex type buildings, even some new SFH. So much room in Midtown for density without any light style towers.

[normalthings]

Not sure what technically qualifies as high rise nor do I know who would authoritatively define that. On a personal level I would have a hard time defining anything less than about 15 floors as solidly high rise. I think we can accomplish everything we need on Main with buildings 12 floors or less. Midrise density for Midtown. We could 10x the density of Midtown without any towers. Personally I would not be a fan of isolated towers surrounded by neighborhoods of SFH and colonnades. 8-12 floors seems great for the character of midtown on the big corridors. Then fill in the neighborhoods with new townhomes, duplex-6 plex type buildings, even some new SFH. So much room in Midtown for density without any light style towers.

Its about building codes and industry standards

Type IIIA structures can be constructed up to 85 feet above grade in a sprinklered structure.[wood frame max]

National Fire Protection Association defines a high-rise as being higher than 75 feet (23 m), or about seven stories.

[FlippantCitizen]

Ahh National Fire Protection Association, I see. I don't think anyone in common parlance would consider 7 stories high rise though.

[TheLastGentleman]

Ahh National Fire Protection Association, I see. I don't think anyone in common parlance would consider 7 stories high rise though.

Everything's up to date in Kansas City
They gone about as fer as they can go
They went an' built a skyscraper seven stories high
About as high as a buildin' orta grow.

[Anthony_Hugo98]

Ahh National Fire Protection Association, I see. I don't think anyone in common parlance would consider 7 stories high rise though.

Everything's up to date in Kansas City
They gone about as fer as they can go
They went an' built a skyscraper seven stories high
About as high as a buildin' orta grow.

You’re a monster for that

[DaveKCMO]

Midtown doesn't need high rises. They would just be accompanied by monster garages, which Kansas City also doesn't need. All of that would lead to even higher rents or subsidies.

You can have density without high rises. This project is the perfect example of it.

Can appreciate that perspective if you mean no more hirises anymore anywhere in city (decent density w/out hirises is doable afterall) but are you saying it's OK for downtown or Plaza to have more hirises but not Midtown?

Not because they're necessary, but that pattern has already been established.

[FlippantCitizen]

Everything's up to date in Kansas City
They gone about as fer as they can go
They went an' built a skyscraper seven stories high
About as high as a buildin' orta grow.

[moderne]

Wonder what will happen to the 2 old apartment buildings left on the block. They have been notorious roach hotels for at least 4 decades. Since MAC was previously going to take these in the old TIF plan and now are not, are they equal in number to the "affordable" units in the old plan?

[daGOAT]

The one on the south end of the block has been renovated recently. I'm sure someone will invest in the other building in due time, but I doubt they preserve the affordable housing.

[missingkc]

MAC's original proposal:

That formula would have yielded 77 affordable apartments throughout a development Mac sought to build on most of a full block southwest of Armour Boulevard and Main Street. The overall project involved 385 apartments and 40,000 square feet of commercial, distributed among two towers, two walk-up buildings, and the existing New Yorker Apartments and U.S. Bank branch, both of which were to be renovated.

MAC's new proposal:

Over the weekend, Mac Properties submitted a rezoning request for nearly three acres southwest of Armour Boulevard and Main Street in connection with a proposal to build 325 apartments through new construction and renovation of a U.S. Bank branch.

That represents a 60-unit drop from a $100 million mixed-use plan version the Chicago developer began advancing last fall.

Mac's new proposal no longer includes a renovation of the New Yorker Apartments at 3521 Baltimore Ave., Peter Cassel, Mac Properties' director of community development, said Monday. The original plan would have seen 52 residences preserved within the building, down slightly from its existing 59 units, in service of the city's affordability requirements.

Mac's plan also no longer includes properties it controls southwest of Armour and Baltimore Avenue, Cassel said. The previous version included two four-story walk-up buildings with 16 and 24 units, respectively.

[Chris Stritzel]

Neighborhood meeting was held tonight at Plexpod Westport Commons. I'd say no more than 20 people (outside of the development team) showed up. The biggest problem people had was parking, but myself and a few others made the argument that less parking is a good thing in the long term and that seemed to force people who wanted more parking to stay quiet. You could hear an audible gasp when the project's lawyer said that per the Main Street Overlay District, they weren't technically required to include parking here, but they did include some anyways out of respect of the neighborhood and the fact that some residents bring their cars along.

Mac did present renderings for the project and it does look very nice, including the public spaces (expect to see them soon). The visual impact this project will have on the area was not downplayed since the site sits on a hill and driving, or walking, north on Main will be spectacular. This large building size is the reason why they tried to step and break up the design of the Main Street building (Building 3). Additionally, Building 3 will feature terraces at the southern corners of each step that will act as a "sky park", creating a community outdoor space.

There is up to 25,000sf of retail space located along Main and the hope is for a variety of small shops and cafes. They also hope to include a restaurant at the corner of Main and Armour at the base of the US Bank building (which will have its street level glass pushed back to create a covered walkway). The public plaza on the Main Street side is certainly a nice touch and one I'd like to see more of applied along the streetcar line. It helps make the building more approachable and makes the entire development a better part of the neighborhood.

The spaces between each of the three buildings, would they allow access for the houses on Baltimore to walk through to Main? That section of street is a bit sad due to fronting the backside of Main buildings. It'd be nice to improve the view and connection of that block.

I asked about the breezeways in Building 3 and wondered if the public could use them to cut through. The answer was no since that will be secured access points for building residents.

Regarding the northeast corner of Armour and Baltimore, Peter Cassel of Mac stated that they plan on going through an intense design process on historically accurate looking building(s) for that corner that could eventually house up to an additional 24-48 units (yet to be decided). Only reason why this was mentioned was because one lady asked if that corner could be used for more surface parking.

An older gentleman asked if Mac bought the Burger King (because he wanted to see something like this on that site) and Peter laughed. He said they tried many times, but maybe the sixth time will be charm since it’s closed.

Lastly, rent was hinted at with Peter not specifying what rent would be overall, but said that if the walk-up units in Building 1 (Armour Tower) were here today, they would rent for $2500-$2800 per month and would be the most expensive offering.

So, lots of stuff shown and presented. Talks were limited to parking and design but nothing else. Height wasn't an issue like I thought it would be. And more forward-thinking people outnumbered the old guard 2-1 (6 spoke in favor. 2 complained about parking).

P.S. 9 more people showed up after I took this picture.

[Critical_Mass]

Great info. Thanks!
For the potential additional 24 to 48 units, did you mean the SW corner of Armour & Baltimore? NE corner is the self storage building.

[Cratedigger]

Thanks Chris for the intel. Collison with some more details and renderings.

Thought this bit about the New Yorker building was interesting:

the historic New Yorker building at 3521 Baltimore, which had been slated for affordable units in the previous plan, is now being renovated separately by Mac as a market-rate project.

“If you recall, we had folded it (the New Yorker) into the development back in January with the opportunity to create 50-some affordable housing units there,” Cassel said. “The City Council chose not to.

“We’re now just going through the process of updating the building and will turn it into nothing different from any other Mac rehabs we’ve done over the years.”

https://cityscenekc.com/mac-bets-big-o ... ng-demand/

[FangKC]

So all that was accomplished by KC Tenants protest here was to take an affordable building and turn it into a market-rate building, when if they would have done nothing it would have continued to be an affordable renovated building? Good job there.

[Chris Stritzel]

Great info. Thanks!
For the potential additional 24 to 48 units, did you mean the SW corner of Armour & Baltimore? NE corner is the self storage building.

Yea. Southwest. I was getting my directions messed up