My Favorite Projects of 2024

The Aladdin Hotel

When Molzer Development announced that they'd be redeveloping the historic Aladdin Hotel on Wyandotte into apartments, I instantly got excited. Not only does the development team fall within my age range, but it means that Downtown will have one less vacant building to deal with, which inches us closer to consistent infill developments. The Aladdin has had a rough few years from its closure stemming from the Covid pandemic to a failed auction that saw the property, once again, go up for auction and then land in the hands of Molzer.

I've been in the property numerous times since Molzer purchased it and was surprised to see how the hotel rooms were still made and waiting for guests. The hotel was a time capsule with what hotel operations were like prior to March 2020. Old magazines, newspapers, restaurant menues, calendars and more were all left behind. The history the building has lived through, and the unique things that have been hidden behind flooring, make the Aladdin intriguing to both development and history nerds alike. 

As Molzer sets sail on redeveloping the building into 122 apartments and a 1200sf top-floor commercial space, I'm looking forward to watching the progress. Zach Molzer has posted frequent updates on X about what to expect from the project and it'll be a game-changer. Firstly, all apartments will be attainable for those making 85% AMI (adjusts with the market-rate) with 10% of the apartments being set aside for those making 60% AMI, which is basically unheard of for a project like this. Secondly, the finishes on the amenities and apartments themselves, as shared by Zach on his X, will set the redeveloped Aladdin apart from any other redeveloped building in Downtown, and maybe the entire City. Lastly, location is everything and with the new Barney Allis Plaza under construction across Wyandotte, and the ease of access to numerous restaurants, bars, shops, a grocery store, and entertainment options within a short walk from the property's front door, future residents will be living the good life here. 

In many ways, the Aladdin will provide residents with an urban living experience rarely found in Kansas City and it'll be an experience found more in cities like New York, Boston or Chicago than a mid-size Midwest city.

Country Club Plaza Overhaul

Earlier this year, we learned that the owner of Highland Park Village in Dallas Texas acquired Country Club Plaza. The Plaza has been a Kansas City staple for decades and celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. New owner, Ray Washburne, made big promises when he acquired the Plaza and promised to restore the Plaza to its original grandeur and notoriety. Such monumental changes on the way to the Plaza are streetscape improvements, the overhaul of the facades of some newer buildings (which don't look like they belong on the Plaza) to become more in-line with what you see on the Plaza today, a partial demolition of some space on the west end of the Plaza for pedestrian paseos, and the construction of a new "signature" office tower on the site cleared for a Nordstrom store.

The promises were celebrated by people all over Kansas City who had hoped that the new owner would help restore the beloved landmark and reimagine it for the next 100 years. 

What I'm looking forward to is the Plaza merging destination retail and restaurants with a new focus on neighborhood amenities. Mr. Washburne has made it clear in several interviews, that nearby residents of the Plaza should be able to walk there and grab a snack, quick bite, and maybe a few groceries. That vision, especially with the Streetcar Extension opening next year, means that the Plaza will be reinvented to be an integral part of the urban living experience while still being a regional shopping draw.

In the new year, we will likely see additional renderings and plans for what Mr. Washburne has in mind for the Plaza, including the "iconic" and "architecturally signficant" office building on the failed Nordstrom site. In the interim, visitors to the Plaza enjoy better landscaping, increased security, and a better level of cleanliness. 

800 Grand Tower

Not since the Federal Courthouse went up on the northern end of Downtown has the northern skyline perspective changed. Beginning next year, it'll change in a big way thanks to the BR Companies of California. BR made a huge splash when they unveiled their proposal for a 25-story mixed-use tower on the site of a present-day dilapadated parking garage at 800 Grand Boulevard.

The proposal includes a building whose design breaks from the all-glass design of the Light Towers on the south end of Downtown with, what appears to be, some kidn of masonry component. The window spacing echoes back to the classic window alignments in older buildings (especially those found on the neighboring Scarritt Building). 800 Grand is also a huge boost for Grand Boulevard in general as it'll add 318 apartments, 24,000sf of retail/restaurant space and 438 parking spaces (some to be shared with adjacent properties). 

Grand is, to put it mildly, a tired street. Presently, between 8th and 13th, you have 5 fully vacant (and 1 almost entirely vacant) buildings, a vacant parking garage, and empty storefronts. The dream of "making Grand, Grand" isn't dead with the introduction of this project and it might just give Grand the kick it needs to actually become "Grand". It's on that hope that I'm super excited for this project. The opportunity to see a new tower rise into the skyline and change the northern facing view for the first time in two decades is exciting enough, but having a new tower act as an anchor to a greater revitalization of Grand Boulevard is a game-changer. A project like this can be the key to coninuing to see the old Federal Reserve, Palace Clothing Building, and Borel Buildings sit vacant or to seeing those be redeveloped.

As for the neighboring Scarritt Building, the renderings make it seem as though it is part of the 800 Grand project. While not yet official, having that building involved will further cement my hopes for this project and what it could mean for the Grand corridor. 

4th and Minnesota

Downtown Kansas City Kansas (KCK) has been patiently waiting for its moment to shine. Downtown KCK, while being the government center of Wyandotte County and just a short drive away from Downtown KCMO, is a ghost town. Plagued by parking lots, a complex highway interchange that forces activity to remain where it is with little room to grow, and a few vacant or underutilized buildings has made this neighborhood one where any new development is to be celebrated. I was shocked when, in April of this year, the Unified Government of Wyandotte County announced that they selected Flaherty and Collins as the developer for a large-scale project on a parking lot at 4th and Minnesota.

Designed by KEM Studio, the project is split into two phases that'll be joined over a reconnected, but pedestrianized, 4th Street. Featuring 472 apartments, 26,650sf of commercial space, 28,300sf of green space, and hidden parking, the project will rise over the eastern edge of Downtown KCK. Because of the site's prominence, it'll change the skyline of Downtown KCK and give residents an obstrucuted view of the Downtown KCMO skyline and West Bottoms. 

Such a large project would do wonders in almost any neighborhood, but doing it in Downtown KCK means that there will be a prime example project go grow off of. Not to mention, the influx of hundreds of new residents, new businesses, and new green spaces (where a parking lot currently exists) will be a big win for the few businesses that still call Downtown KCK home. 

Four Light Tower

Cordish continued their successful Power and Light District development this year with the opening of the Midland Lofts (a 135-unit redevelopment of the Midland Office Building on Baltimore) and the announcement of Four Light. Proposed to replace the parking lot along Baltimore behind the Main Street movie theater and a small sliver parking lot to the south of the theater, Four Light will be mean the realization of the original Power and Light District master plan.

The 24-story tower, designed by Beyer Blinder Belle of New York, is set to come with 293 apartments, an integrated parking garage, and 19,871st of retail/restaurant space. The project also includes a small, 2-story retail/restaurant building just south of the Main Street theater (which covers 12,624sf of the total retail/restaurant space). The tower's orientation differs from Two and Three Light in the way that its oriented north-south instead of east-west. This change means that the building will appear slender when viewed from the south (and subsequently help break up the wall of glass that was being established by the other Light Towers). Capped off with a stylized "4", Four Light will be a welcome addition to the skyline when completed.

I'm excited for this project since the addition of hundreds of new residents in Downtown means that it'll get just a little bit more vibrant. It also opens the door to more businesses establishing a presence in Downtown. Replacing a surface parking lot is also a huge win as the increased tax revenues generated by property taxes, earnings taxes (from new residents to the City) and sales taxes (both from the new residents visiting Downtown businesses and new ones occupying the space in the new development) mean healthier finances for the City in the long-term.

Per reports, the desire is for Cordish to break ground on Four Light in 2025.

KC Current Riverfront District

April brought us the first look at the massive plan being explored by the Long Family and Marquee Development for the Berkley Riverfront. A massive mixed-use that'll be developed over the next decade, the project will take Berkley Riverfront to the next level. With new residents, restaurants, shops, and workspaces, all of which are connected to the City, and Region, by Streetcar, roads or highways, Berkley Riverfront will blossom into a neighborhood its visionaries could only dream of. Master planning architecture firm, and architect for the first phase of the development, Perkins Eastman, created a solid design to base themselves off of. Using lighter colored brick with metal accents, the buildings will age gracefully than most other new construction rising these days. The massing is also more in-line with what we should come to expect, and demand, when setting sail on an entirely new urban district. 7-stories (to start) isn't too short of a height, but it isn't too tall. 

For a first phase with 430 apartments, 53,000sf of retail space, and 400 parking spaces, the scale will set the tone for how future phases will go. If phase 1 is succesful, expect a bigger scope for phase 2. If phase 1 doesn't do great, but also not bad, I expect the master plan to be followed. With Streetcar integration, and the fact the Current's project will bring new restaurants and retailers to the riverfront, plus add additional recreational activities, I expect the overall project to be extremely successful with future phases exceeding the scope envisioned in the master plan. 

Indian Springs Mall - Midtown Station

Sticking around in Kansas City Kansas, we move from their Downtown to the area around Interstate 635 and State Avenue. In particular, the former site of the Indian Springs Mall. Yet another project born from a Unified Government-issued request for proposals (RFP), the "Midtown Station" proposal offers an ambitious vision for a mixed-use neighborhood developed on the dirt, gravel, and crumbling parking lots left in the wake of Indian Springs Mall.

To be developed by Eastside Innovation and Arnold Development Group, Midtown Station would give KCK a proper "Midtown" and likely result in further redevelopment projects being undertaken nearby. The scope of Midtown Station includes 1475 apartments, 150 townhomes, 60 single-family homes, 168 hotel rooms, nearly 281,000sf of retail and restaurant space, an 18,000sf grocery store, and a 16,000sf greenhouse. That's in addition to several new green spaces and a signature "Central Green".

Midtown Station earns a spot on my list due to the ambition presented by the development team and the perfect mixture of usages which will keep the businesses that'll call the development home. Additionally, a project of such a large scope is good news for the older parts of KCK as the continued sprawl near the Legends Outlet Mall and Kansas Speedway will only hurt Wyandotte County in the longrun. 

Arnold Development Group was involved in the highly-sustainable "passive housing" project known as 2nd and Delaware in the River Market neighborhood. That firm is also undertaking the massive redevelopment project at Independence and Hardesty in Kansas City's Historic Northeast.

Edward Franklin Building Company's Columbus Park Townhomes

The development team of Edward Franklin Building Company and DRAW Architects revealed a wonderful townhome development on several acres in the Columbus Park neighborhood. Columbus Park has long awaited a proper development to fill in the northwestern portion of their neighborhood. Proposals have come and gone over the years and big promises were made, but never delivered. This has left Columbus Park feeling left behind. Neighbors have kept the neighborhood nice and helped lead the charge against Airbnbs replacing much-needed housing in the City's neighborhoods.

The proposal for new townhomes, in my opinion, is a home run. For-sale housing options, on the periphery of Downtown and in an established neighborhood, are huge draws and guarantee success for many years to come. Housing stock is limited in Columbus Park, so building more seems like a good move. The architectural design of the homes pulls from the neighborhood, but fuses with modern styles. You can see hints of older multi-family buildings in some of the homes while others pull from some of the Victorian homes found in the neighborhood. Brick is also a common material found on the public facing sides of the homes. Small front-yards mean the homes will be built much closer to the sidewalks than your standard new houses and it means the homes will be more in-line with what's found throughout the neighborhood. Resident parking is accessed from alleys instead of front driveways, which is the way neighborhoods should always be developed. Then you have the reconnection of the street grid as Holmes and Gillis are reconnected to the NE Industrial Trafficway and 4th Street is extended east from Campbell to just past Gillis (a 2 block extension).

Edward Franklin's and DRAW's plans call for 84 homes spread out over two-phases. The second phase could happen sooner rather than later depending on the demand shown for the first phase of houses. I'm excited for this project because of how these homes will replace non-tax producing properties, bring more residents into the Greater Downtown area, and bring more residents into Columbus Park (keeping it strong for many more years to come).

The Renovation of 613 Forest

I'm a sucker for old buildings. I strongly believe that every old building can tell a story about the past and also show us how people used to build. This feeling extends to the 6-family apartment building on Forest Avenue. The strucutre is located on a block that, at best, can be descrbed as mediocre. The IBEW Union built an office across the street, a neighboring multi-family burned (also vacant) burned down last year, a vacant corner commercial building exists at Independence and Forest, and a few single-family homes (in varying conditions) exist on the east side of the street to Admiral. Of everything on the block, 613 Forest is the most interesting of the bunch. 

For-sale for a long time, but also in such a state of bad repair that I was certain the building would be demolished, I was presently surprised to see the new owners make an effort to save the property.

At the very end of 2023, an application came in for a development assistance team. The application revealed that the new owners were intending to save the property. The description made it sound like a new building would be built in the shell of the old. In early 2024, work began with garbage on the proeprty being removed, boards removed from windows and tuckpointing work occuring on the facade. Apparently, the renovation is valued at $1 Million, which I fully believe.

Lots of work remains to be done on the property, but promising progress has been made throughout 2024. The property is still in a precarious situation until all work is completed. The prospect of the building burning down to the homeless trying to keep warm in the winter is a real possibility. Same goes for a freakishly large snowstorm dumping more snow onto the property than the current roof joists can handle, causing a collapse.

My hope is that by the end of 2025, the building is in a stable condition and, hopefully, reopened to residents. 

Picture from May 2024.

Streetcar Lofts

The 31st Street corridor between Wyandotte and Gillham will dramatically change over the next few years. At Baltimore, you have the 371-unit "ArriveKC" development by NorthPoint rising. At Main, the KCStreetcar will be opening their new stop, and extension, next year. At Gillham, the Garrison Companies has approval, and early permitting activity, for a roughly 160-unit building with retail called "The Levy". Connecting all of these will be 5 new buildings (3 of which will replace blighted parking lots and 2 will replace grassy lots). Serving as the entrance to the beautifully redeveloped Union Hill neighborhood, and putting hundreds of residents within a short walk of a park (Penn Valley), transit (Streetcar) and restaurants/bars (Martini Corner), Streetcar Lofts will redefine the corridor. At 240 apartments (48 per building) and 235 parking spaces, the development falls within a different category than the "big projects". In my view, smaller buildings, like these, are more beneficial to neighborhoods than a single large building because you're spreading the residents out a bit..

Design wise, Streetcar Lofts breaks with the modern design style for new apartment buildings. Plans, designed by Rosemann and Associates, show buildings clad in a red brick with tan stone accents. Each building also has differing designs, which is a welcome change. The one part of the project I don't really like is how no retail space is included. However, I acknowledge that there are other opportunities nearby for additional retail space and that more residents can help lead to retail bays being filled elsewhere. One benefit of the plan is that the front doors of these buildings are located on 31st Street, meaning that residents will utilize 31st Streets' sidewalks to come and go from their destinations.

Outside of the buildings themselves, plans appear to show sidewalk enhancements coming to 31st in the form of them being wider, having bump outs at the corners, and having some room for landscaping. For the City, two of the parcels for this project will return to the tax rolls after being exempt for decades (both parking lots at 31st and Grand are owned by KCPBS). 

When you put the Streetcar Lofts project, streetscape enhancements, ArriveKC, and the Levy together, you get a transformed 31st Street corridor that'll take its place as one of Kansas City's best examples of a mixed-use neighborhood street. In 2025, we will see construction start on these buildings, and it'll be exciting to watch.

Looking Ahead to 2025