KANSAS CITY| Development & Projects

[twan2001]

Originally Posted by cjreisen

Detroit/Denver/even St Louis see so much more development.

Detroit and Denver are both MUCH larger cities than KC and the majority of St. louis' development is happening in Clayton, not downtown. KC has more going on downtown.

[twan2001]

Construction has begun on the Hampton inn (a block away from the Loews convention Hotel)



rendering:

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by cjreisen

Can someone explain to me why KC is so bad at attracting new people to live downtown? Or can someone please tell me an area where there's a lot of new multifamily residential occuring? I regularly study KC when new streetview comes out, and I'm regularly disappointed that for such a seemingly attractive city, nothing seems to be happening in downtown KC or nearby. Why? When Detroit/Denver/even St Louis see so much more development.

The emphasis on residential construction downtown is on renovations, rather than new construction. There has been a lot of new construction in the Quality Hill area and River Market, but elsewhere downtown it's mostly renovations of older office buildings, etc. So, when you look at downtown on Google street view and don't see anything "new," that doesn't mean there's no activity, it's just that there's no "new" buildings, per se, just renovations.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

The emphasis on residential construction downtown is on renovations, rather than new construction. There has been a lot of new construction in the Quality Hill area and River Market, but elsewhere downtown it's mostly renovations of older office buildings, etc. So, when you look at downtown on Google street view and don't see anything "new," that doesn't mean there's no activity, it's just that there's no "new" buildings, per se, just renovations.

Expanding on this point, you also don't usually see much in the way of new construction until most of the existing stock is renovated. So having a lot of existing stock has the side effect of delaying new construction.

[cjreisen]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

The emphasis on residential construction downtown is on renovations, rather than new construction. There has been a lot of new construction in the Quality Hill area and River Market, but elsewhere downtown it's mostly renovations of older office buildings, etc. So, when you look at downtown on Google street view and don't see anything "new," that doesn't mean there's no activity, it's just that there's no "new" buildings, per se, just renovations.

Interesting point, disclaimer I've never been to KC so just looking for lots and doing streetview to see what's going on. Just amazing how in nearly ever other major city surface lots are flying away, and in KC there seems to be nearly dismal construction. But I guess renovation of old office into residential is perfectly ideal if it leads to new dev. Can you guys potentially post pics of new developments downtown? I'd like to see.

Originally Posted by twan2001

...and the majority of St. louis' development is happening in Clayton, not downtown. KC has more going on downtown.

totally not going to derail this thread but i have to disagree. downtown KC has definitely seen more development than downtown STL over the past 5 to 10 years (though DT STL is picking up speed with 2 new residential towers, office, hotel, and several large historic rehabs). but there's substantial development going on in STL city along the central corridor (including a 36-story residential tower) and on the near south side. STL city has significantly more development activity going on than Clayton, but Clayton has a few big ones in a concentrated area, including a couple of residential towers and Centene's big expansion.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by cjreisen

Interesting point, disclaimer I've never been to KC so just looking for lots and doing streetview to see what's going on. Just amazing how in nearly ever other major city surface lots are flying away, and in KC there seems to be nearly dismal construction. But I guess renovation of old office into residential is perfectly ideal if it leads to new dev. Can you guys potentially post pics of new developments downtown? I'd like to see.

I've got some pics of downtown KC and environs I've taken over the past couple years in the following threads. Includes some pics of new construction and renovations:

Downtown KC - be sure to check out my video in post #34
Quality Hill
River Market

[twan2001]

Originally Posted by IWant2BeInSTL

totally not going to derail this thread but i have to disagree. downtown KC has definitely seen more development than downtown STL over the past 5 to 10 years (though DT STL is picking up speed with 2 new residential towers, office, hotel, and several large historic rehabs). but there's substantial development going on in STL city along the central corridor (including a 36-story residential tower) and on the near south side. STL city has significantly more development activity going on than Clayton, but Clayton has a few big ones in a concentrated area, including a couple of residential towers and Centene's big expansion.

You're probably right, i don't know what's going on besides when i check in on the st. louis thread. It just seems that everything that I see besides BPV is happening away from downtown.

[Chris Stritzel]

Originally Posted by twan2001

Construction has begun on the Hampton inn (a block away from the Loews convention Hotel)

Kansas City is starting to get a big City look. With the Hampton Inn and the Loews Hotel Cranes along with the ARTERRA crane, the Crossroads Skyline will look awesome! Four cranes in this area! SWEET! Now all we need is for three light to start soon so that a 4th crane can rise. The perception cranes on a downtown give to passerby's is transformational. It shows growth.

Originally Posted by twan2001

You're probably right, i don't know what's going on besides when i check in on the st. louis thread. It just seems that everything that I see besides BPV is happening away from downtown.

yeah, most of it is outside of downtown but still within city limits. downtown has been a laggard.

[kcexpress69]

Originally Posted by Chris Stritzel

Kansas City is starting to get a big City look. With the Hampton Inn and the Loews Hotel Cranes along with the ARTERRA crane, the Crossroads Skyline will look awesome! Four cranes in this area! SWEET! Now all we need is for three light to start soon so that a 4th crane can rise. The perception cranes on a downtown give to passerby's is transformational. It shows growth.

While I seriously doubt that the "skyline" in the Crossroads / Freighthouse area will ever match the skyline within the loop, it's great to see more mid-rises going up as infill. I completely forgot about Hampton Inn going up, and it's right on the rail line. Perhaps when Three Light, and possibly Four Light is built, there will be more of a demand for new residential tower construction in that area (20-30 stories). I don't want to ruin the uniqueness of the Crossroads, but I won't complain if there's a few towers that match the height of the Lights if it means building on a few boring surface area parking lots.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Suburb-y stuff.

Developer of OP Bluhawk project announces $205M Phase 1

The developers behind Overland Park’s Bluhawk development announced details Thursday of the first phase of the $750 million project.

Phase 1, which is slated to cost $205 million, will cover nearly 92 acres of a site near 159th Street and Antioch Road and just east of U.S. 69 Highway in south Johnson County.

Colorado-based Sport Stable will operate a 300,000 square-foot indoor multi-sport complex.

Other details announced include ...

[twan2001]

Ashland at River Market Approved today with $0 in incentives.



current state:

[James Bond Agent 007]

To say that would be an improvement over what's currently there would be more than a mild understatement.

[twan2001]

Crane's Up!

[twan2001]

Another 300 footer to hit KC's Skyline, it shoutl be completed by 2021

[The Best Forumer]

Originally Posted by twan2001

Detroit and Denver are both MUCH larger cities than KC and the majority of St. louis' development is happening in Clayton, not downtown. KC has more going on downtown.

Are you sure? I thought STL was about the same size.

^

Detroit is a much larger city and metro.

Denver and St. Louis have very similar metro populations, but Denver's population is much more concentrated within city limits.

Kansas City's metro population isn't too far behind that of St. Louis and Denver, and KC has more people living within city limits that St. Louis does.

Detroit city ~ 670K, Detroit metro ~ 4.3M
Denver city ~ 700K, Denver metro ~ 2.8M
St. Louis city ~ 310K, St. Louis metro ~ 2.8M
Kansas City city ~ 480K, Kansas City metro ~ 2.2M

As always, city land areas vary dramatically:

Kansas City: 319 sq mi
Denver: 153 sq mi
Detroit: 143 sq mi
St. Louis: 62 sq mi

[James Bond Agent 007]

Amenity-laden development geared at millennials planned between Plaza and Westport

A $29 million mixed-use development complete with "grab and go" food and amenity-laden apartments is working its way through the city approval process and could soon replace a block of aging houses near the Country Club Plaza and Westport.

The development, currently known as "Midtown Crossing," would revamp an entire city block of Belleview Avenue with 138 apartments, a parking garage and more than 3,300 square feet of commercial retail space "designed to meet the needs, wants and desires of the millennial generation renters," according to George Birt, a development consultant on the project.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Not any construction, but adding to the occupancy rates downtown...

Guess who's adding 1,000 employees to Downtown?

Warm weather has been slow to arrive this year, but Spring Venture Group is busting out in Downtown.

The company, a direct-to-consumer distributor of Medicare supplement insurance, began moving its 525-person workforce in February to its new downtown headquarters, the 18-story Twelve Wyandotte Plaza office building at 120 W. 12th St.

Spring Venture Group, which previously was headquartered in 60,000 square feet at 2301 McGee St. in Crown Center, initially planned to lease 110,000 square feet this year at Twelve Wyandotte Plaza and add 40,000 square feet there next year, CEO Chris Giuliani said.

“But instead, because our growth has been so rapid, we will have 130,000 square feet, and we’ll be at 170,000 square feet by early spring next year,” he said. “And then we have 40,000 square feet on a couple of additional floors reserved for two and a half years, and we expect to fill that up.”