Housing
Flatland covers stories about affordable housing, evictions and tenant rights in the Kansas City metro and surrounding area.
Mulberry Lofts Opens in Historic Garment District Building
By Kevin Collison Mulberry Lofts, the latest downtown historic renovation project at 905 Broadway, has come to fruition with half of its 25 apartments already leased two weeks after the first residents began moving in. Developer Andrew Bolton, a New Yorker who relocated to Kansas City while pursuing the $8 million project, has blended the…
KCATA Hopes New Transit Center Will Spur East Village Redevelopment
By Kevin Collison The groundbreaking for the $5 million East Village Transit Center at 12th and Charlotte is being viewed partly as a catalyst to attract more investment to a multi-block redevelopment area that has languished more than a decade. “We’re looking at getting input from developers for transportation-oriented development, possibly affordable housing, retail…we’d like…
Wonder Shops + Flats Add Yeast to Ongoing Troost Revival
By Kevin Collison The Troost revival is continuing to rise with the Wonder Shops + Flats mixed-use development nearing completion in the former Wonder Bread bakery at the corner of East 30th Street. The 150,000 square-foot building, which opened in 1909 as Continental Bakers before shifting to Wonder Bread, has been restored with 87 apartments,…
The Rise and Fall of an Overland Park Icon
Metcalf Avenue is certainly not the Champs-Élysées, but at one time, a French-themed market loomed large — like a medieval castle — above Overland Park’s main drag. This superstore, in fact, was named the French Market, and curiousKC delved into the history of the place at the behest of Quentin Brewer, a Mission, Kansas, resident…
Copaken Brooks Apartment Tower Starts Construction in November
By Kevin Collison Construction is expected to begin in November on the 14-story Copaken Brooks apartment tower at 18th and Walnut, with completion anticipated in spring 2020. The $40 million project will bring residential life in the Crossroads Arts District to a new level, adding 132 apartments to the neighborhood as well as additional retail…
Crossroads Developer Nate Accardo Tackles New Project
By Kevin Collison Nate Accardo, one of the Crossroads’ pioneer developers, is renovating a 90 year-old building at 108 W. 19th St. and plans to market it for office tenants, hopefully creative individuals and firms. The former owner of Custom Color, a photography processing and production company, began renovating properties in the Crossroads area in…
Growing Beacon Hill Neighborhood Adding $16M Hotel to Mix
By Kevin Collison After a more than two-year effort, work on a new 92-room LaQuinta Del Sol hotel got its formal start Tuesday, the latest addition to the growing Beacon Hill neighborhood in the southeast corner of greater downtown. “We’re thrilled we finally got here,” developer John Hoffman said during a groundbreaking ceremony. “It took…
Flashcube Building Apartment Project Expects to Start Early 2019
By Kevin Collison The planned redevelopment of the historic “Flashcube” building into apartments has hit a “profound” budget jump due to price increases for construction materials and labor, raising the cost by 38 percent to $69 million. In response, a request by the developer, Worcester Investments, to have its “prevailing wage” labor goal set at…
City Voters Consider ‘Healthy Homes’ Apartment Inspection Proposal Next Week
(Editor note: City voters approved the Healthy Homes initiative Aug. 7 with 56 percent supporting the measure.) By Kim Mueller At first glance, the “Healthy Homes” initiative on the August 7 city special election ballot appears straightforward: Are voters in favor of creating a residential rental inspection program. But Question One surprised Ann Mackey when…
How’s It Moving? We Check In A Year After Our Infrastructure Project
Last spring, we dug into the state of metro roads, highways, sewers and public transportation in a project called Public Works? The Cost of Our Aging Infrastructure. We’ve continued to follow the topics to see if anything has changed in a year’s time. Our weekly public affairs shows, Ruckus and Week in Review, track progress —…