Yea construction and land costs are very cheap here. At $1.70 a sq. ft. this is like as expensive as rent gets here. Seriously, most decent 1 bedroom apartments in solid urban neighborhoods in KC cost 6 or $700, and that can get you as much as a 1000 sq. feet. I used to live in a sweet 2 bedroom colonnade that was probably about 7 or 800 sq. ft. in one of our coolest, funkiest urban neighborhoods and get this, it only cost $550 a month to rent!
As for Kansas City being desperate for downtown development, not really any more. I mean we definitely need to continue having new developments, but our downtown is doing way, way better than it was. You worry about urban necessities, well at the base of this tower you have one of the best grocery stores in the city. It is a great urban market. If you haven't been to downtown KC the last year or two, then it has changed a lot. And in the next 2 years it is going to be at least twice as different. This last year has seen so many new developments pop up downtown. We are getting to the point where tax breaks are less and less needed. I guarantee you that this building will lease out in no time at all. Downtown rental occupancy is at 98% if I'm correct, so we need lots of new apartments.
Luckily, as long as things go as planned, the Power and Light building (old classic skyscraper not related to the Power and Light District) just got plans yesterday to turn it into luxury apartments in the same price range as One Light. This would hit the market around the same time, along with probably another 1-2000 new units about to break ground in the CBD. Even with all of these new apartments, I have no concern about there being too many. Downtown is growing at such a rate that these units coming online will just further push the demand. Not to mention our starter streetcar line will be running by then. There are already new apartment buildings being planned on vacant lots and parking lots along the future line, mostly because of the streetcar. We have developers from the coasts starting to jump into the mix because they see the potential of the streetcar (and yet somehow we still have some dolts that are against the streetcar
).
Here is the One Light building's website:
http://onelightkc.com/. Check out those views! Floor to ceiling windows, yea this place will rent out quickly. There just isn't another place like this in downtown KC.
The construction site has been blocked off as of about a week ago, so it is finally almost that time. Can't believe it has taken this long to get going! I will be sure to keep an update every once in awhile, with pictures included no doubt.