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A Crossroads District property has owner generated some discussion by proposing to turn the site of the old PCB Building at 21st and Wyandotte into a public park, something that the rapidly redeveloping neighborhood needs. The only problem is that the parcel is already slated for a condo development.
Numerous city studies and master plans have noted the influx of residents and businesses to Downtown means that more greenspace is needed. So far the reality seems to be a mentality that calls for condos and boutiques on virtually every piece of available land. If this idea doesn’t work out I propose one of two giant, square-block parking lots. One at 16th and Grand, and the other at 19th and Grand.
If they’d get rid of the highway that runs through Penn Valley Park, that would be an awesome greenspace destination for all the surrounding neighborhoods. Having that volume of traffic running through the middle of a park is just wrong.
I’ve been thinking for a while that that area definitely needs a park/greenspace, just like the idea of putting a school down there eventually makes sense.
But does it have to be a “Park for the Arts,” as the Star pitches it? Can’t it just be a Park?!? Yes, there’s a lot of “Arts” in the Crossroads and that’s a wonderful thing, but does everything down there have to have the tag “Arts” applied to it?
To me the questions are these:
- HOW MANY condos does Kansas City need?
- HOW MANY people are living in downtown condos right now? Are they selling?
I get the feeling that for all of these condo developments that hardly anyone is living in them. So why build even MORE? I understand that there needs to be residential space and business to support them (grocery, restaurants, laundry, etc) but it needs to be a healthy mix.
Useable green space (not like the green space at liberty memorial) and an art community are needed to make downtown thrive – not just condos, surface parking lots and office space.
downtown needs residents who are owners. that’s what makes this renewal more workable than any that’s been tried before. an official crossroads greenspace should celebrate the arts, but in a more visible way (such as any of the “gateways” or main intersections that gave the neighborhood its name (the boulevard, main, broadway, 18th). besides, the city a few years ago already did a study for such a park (the 22nd/23rd crosstown study), so this is not new territory. the neighborhood can’t sustain itself on just galleries and greenspace forever.
DaveKCMO,
Yes, the crossroads has galleries, but where are the greenspaces?
Your comment impies that the crossroads is “just galleries and greenspace” and that needs to change – but I don’t see ANY greenspace in the Crossroads.
If the crossroads is going to contain people who OWN property, they are going to want a park or a communal gathering place.
BTW, the reason the galleries are in the crossroads is that the area COULDN’T sustain itself – making it a perfect place for creatives to find cheap gallery space. This is the reason the area is now starting to thrive – let’s just hope that it’s trendiness doesn’t force the galleries out so they can put up Starbucks and Chipotles.
Somewhere along the line someone is going to have to find room for the gigantic rain garden that will be needed for all the greenspace the condos are taking.
With so much re-development and the excess condo market a welcome addition would be the Park for the Arts space. The crossroads is a growing area that is going through a re-birth and yes having greenspace and art (which is an attraction to people who already live there) is a good combination. This is no boondogle like the Ferris Wheel proposal or the doomed Light Rail plan this is a chance to put a small patch of grass and trees in a sea of concrete, brick, and steel.
i just love it when people throw around the word “boondoggle” whenever they disagree with something.
Parsing the words really isn’t the most important thing to do right now. Having a beautiful respite from the urban environment is a good idea on a bunch of levels. This is just the kind of thing the city should get behind. It makes the residential properties more valuable, it will provide a break from all the hardscape (rain garden?), and makes it more of a “destination” for the art crowd, justifying restaurants and other retail. Can one little park do that much? Who knows, but it’s worth trying. Plus, it’s a shame to have spent all that tax payer money to clean up the site, and then just dig it up and put concrete on top of it.
Gidget’s points are well made. Take a realistic look at the condo market we don’t need anymore big projects like this. I already have several in my neighborhood and they can’t hardly sell any of them. The only condo’s that people are buying are in the lower 100′s range and all of the expensive places i.e. this project sit vacant. Since Dave KCMO pointed it out I do like the word Boondoggle: “a project funded by the federal government out of political favoritism that is of no real value to the community or the nation.” or “to deceive or attempt to deceive: to boondoggle investors into a low-interest scheme.” I think the word describes those projects perfectly. We need more greenspace in that neighborhood and instead of Jackson County or the City having to care for it private investors and neighborhood groups could take care of the upkeep.
The Crossroads already has a massive chunk of usable greenspace that needs improvement: Penn Valley Park. It’s too bad that it is percieved as being ‘too far’ from all of the residential there, its potential as an urban pleasure spot is greatly untapped. Additionally, I think if green space must be found in the Xroads proper, turning one of the more central surface parking lots into a parkspace would be a better idea than this particular lot in the heart of the Freighthouse area. It’s too ripe for residential and too isolated from the rest of the Xroads area, IMO.