Transportation
Regional Skate Park, Artworks, Could ‘Enhance’ New Buck O’Neil Bridge
By Kevin Collison Creating a regional skate park beneath the approach ramps to the new Buck O’Neil Bridge is among the ideas in a report prepared by a group tasked to enliven what’s now a bland infrastructure project. Work is well underway on the $220 million replacement span that will carry US 169 traffic over…
Omaha Going Big on Downtown with New Skyscraper, Streetcar Line
(Editor’s note: This article about two major developments announced Wednesday in Omaha is being published to inform CityScene readers about what other regional cities are doing to revitalize their greater downtowns. The last office tower built in downtown Kansas City was the 18-story H&R Block headquarters in 2006. The 30-story 1201 Walnut building opened in…
Mac’s Big Midtown Project Dead After Council Rejects Funding
By Kevin Collison A $100 million proposal that would have added 385 apartments next to the planned streetcar stop at Main and Armour is dead after the City Council rejected funding considered key to including affordable housing. Mac Properties had proposed renovating the US Bank building at Main and Armour and the nearby New Yorker…
World Class Bikes Expanding in West Bottoms
By Kevin Collison Jay Luschen, the owner of World Class Bikes in the West Bottoms, has a global approach to how he rolls whether you’re a hardcore mountain biker, recreational rider or just down on your luck and desperately need a bicycle to get around. “I want to service the whole community,” he said. “I’ll…
Proposed City Market Apartment Tower Hailed as Future Development Model
By Kevin Collison A 13-story, 300-unit apartment development planned for just west of the City Market was endorsed by a Port KC committee Monday after being hailed by the city manager as a model for future downtown development. The $75 million project proposed for what’s now a city-owned parking lot would occupy a one-acre…
Streetcar to Stretch Farther Toward New Riverfront Soccer Stadium
By Kevin Collison The planned riverfront streetcar extension will be almost three soccer fields longer than originally planned to bring riders closer to the new KC Current stadium to be built east of Berkley Park. Streetcar chief Tom Gerend said a revised plan for the half-mile streetcar extension now brings the line to the middle…
Converting O’Neil Bridge to Linear Park ‘Top Priority’ for City Officials
(Editor’s note, updated March 3: The city announced today it is issuing a request for proposals/qualifications to study the reuse of the existing Buck O’Neil Bridge. The study will be done by the City of Kansas City, Jackson County and Clay County using $300,000 from the Missouri Department of Transportation. “The study will gather public…
Mac Tweaks Big Mixed-Use Plan at Armour and Main
By Kevin Collison Mac Properties has tweaked it’s big mixed-use project proposed for Main and Armour, slightly reducing its size and incentive request in response to discussions with the neighborhood and taxing jurisdictions. The development first reported by CityScene KC in August, calls for renovating the US Bank office building at Main and Armour, and…
Gondola Linking Downtowns KCK and KCMO Pitched by UG Official
By Kevin Collison The idea of using gondolas for mass transit in Kansas City is back, but this time it’s being floated by a senior government official in Wyandotte County, not perennial petitioner Clay Chastain. The concept calls for a two-mile gondola line above the West Bottoms that would link the downtowns of the two…
Streetcar Track-Laying Plan Calls for Segments Moving South on Main
By Kevin Collison After what has seemed an eternity of preliminary infrastructure work, the first rails for the streetcar Main Street extension will start being laid early next year beginning at Union Station and building south. Plans call for the track-laying work to be completed in one-half mile segments at a time, approximately three- to…