Comments on: Does this look blighted to you?

By: Robert Anderson

Robert Anderson — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 17:01:27 +0000

I’ve lived in the Sophian Plaza right on the corner of 46th Terr and Warwick for 15+ years. Its expensive maintaining buildings that are 80 and 90 years old but it should be done.

Already with Highwood, the Plaza area is morfing from a very quaint European-style unique neighborhhod to glitzy cookie cutter America. The Plaza was really the first non-downtown 20s-era shopping district in the country. We need to fight to retain this uniqueness! It started to lose its style when JC Nichols passed away and his son thought buildings line One Ward Parkway & Halls fit with the Seville style. They don’t. You can reallym see a distinct change for the worst on post-J.C. Nichols building projects. Lets not continue this with TIF assistance!

These classic old rental projects are good neighbors. To TIF them into oblivion is public policy and funding at its worst.

I’d even prefer condo conversions on the existing units. With all the similar neighborhood condo conversions (like Ponce de Leon on the same block), it must make sense, it will enhance the building’s maintanence and won’t cost taxpaer funds. Condo convert them and they can still be rented out.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:29:27 +0000

I understand there are problems with these particular properties, but they can be renovated instead of being torn down.

By: Marny

Marny — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 04:59:34 +0000

Say what you like pro or con about this particular TIF, but I lived in the building facing ECB a few years ago and it’s a rat hole. Colapsed ceiling, black mold, roach and mouse infestation… I hope the jerks that own the property don’t see dime one from a land sale – their selection of property manager is shameful

By: chris

chris — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:13:19 +0000

I don’t live in KCMO, but I drive down that street every morning. My wife and I have talked about how beautiful those buildings are, and I think it would be a shame to destroy something so beautiful. It’s time to put your money where your mouth is Funkhouser, and start preventing ridiculous spending.

By: anthony

anthony — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:41:14 +0000

Good thing we don’t have the Queen of TIF as Mayor and that idiot from the northland who was such a whore for any and every TIF on the Council anymore.

Although the power attorneys at WG will probably buy enough votes to get this passed like they did at Bannister.

By: Jim S

Jim S — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:03:18 +0000

I don’t live in KC proper but I spend enough time there to have driven past those buildings several times and I honestly thought of them as an argument against those neighborhoods being as bad as some people think they are. The word “blight” never entered my mind when looking at them.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:17:42 +0000

Seems like the Sailors Project about 1983 and probably something before that.

By: porchpundit

porchpundit — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:38:00 +0000

This seems to be the very kind of misuse of the TIF statute that Mayor Funkhouser based his campaign on last year. If he really intends to claw his way out of the political hole he finds himself in, the Mayor should make this rotten proposal a public example. I hope to see him get more involved in protecting this charming neighborhood. If Funkhouser get out of City Hall and intervene at the neighborhood level, then people would remember why they voted for him. It would be a win/win as far as I am concerned.

By: Drew Murphy

Drew Murphy — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:25:48 +0000

I remember when this was proposed about 6 months ago, and the reaction was not good. Maybe the developers thought people had forgot. Let’s keep our historic buildings instead of tearing them down for no reason.

By: Joe Medley

Joe Medley — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:22:03 +0000

Here’s what I was able to find. A little history of the Wilson brothers was given in a Kansas City Star article from Wed, Aug. 22, 2007, “East Cleaver condo-hotel project proposed near the Country Club Plaza”
By Kevin Collison. The link I had is dead, but I had the text in an e-mail.

“[The Wilson Group] also renovated a former office building at 4528 Belleview Ave. into nine luxury condos in 2003.”

I can’t find where I found that they had only sold one. I’ll keep looking.