$200M development could revive south Kansas City with grocery, restaurants, housing
After more than 20 years, a project long envisioned to revitalize south Kansas City may finally come to life.
City leaders are moving forward with plans on a $200 million redevelopment at 63rd Street and Prospect Avenue near Research Medical Center. Dubbed SouthPoint at 63rd, the project promises to bring new housing, retail and offices across 1 million square feet of new construction.
Kansas City’s Planned Industrial Expansion Authority on Thursday unanimously approved a development plan with Texas-based Urban America, which will likely pursue tax incentives to aid the project.
“I think it’s great that we’re finally being able to move forward with some development on that piece of property,” said Lee Barnes Jr., who represents the area on the Kansas City Council. “It’s been a long time coming, but I think it’s going to be a great project. There’s going to be a lot of things the neighborhood needs, in terms of office, in terms of multi-family housing.”
Barnes said he has been working to bring construction to the site since he joined the council six years ago. Earlier in the week, as the Tax Increment Financing board discussed the project, Barnes said work should begin by next spring.
At that meeting, one nearby property owner asked whether something would finally happen given the site’s troubled history.
“God willing, yes. There’s something getting ready to start,” Barnes said. “Before I get off the council, there should be a couple buildings on that property.”
Phyllis Ray, vice president of the nearby Blue Hills Neighborhood Association, said the group wasn’t informed about the development plan. But the association hopes to see a project that will benefit the neighborhood and community as a whole.
“That is an area that we want to see developed in a manner that’s going to benefit the people of the community from a jobs standpoint, from an aesthetic standpoint, from a beautification standpoint,” she said. “But at this point, we don’t have any idea of what the plan is.”
Herbert Hardwick, a lawyer representing the developer, said the SouthPointe at 63rd Street project would include a hotel, a grocery store, multi-family residential buildings, several medical offices, restaurants and more.
This is just the latest iteration of the project, which has been in the works for a quarter century.
The site was first designated for tax increment financing, an incentive to help finance development, in 1994. In the early 2000s, CDC-KC planned to build an $80 million shopping area in the space called Citadel Plaza, but plans collapsed in a mess of financial and environmental conflicts when the company did not properly monitor asbestos removal before tearing down houses.
In 2011, the Kansas City Council approved a $15 million settlement to resolve lawsuits involving the developer’s creditors. That settlement gave the city clear title to the land and freed the site for development. But it still needed an environmental cleanup, which took several years and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The city reopened requests for proposals in 2016.
“This is a challenging project, but the developers are excited about the possibility and the effort that has come forth. The city of Kansas City has been working closely with the developer to help push the project along, so we’re all excited about the build out of it and the further development of this area,” Hardwick said. “It’s long overdue.”
The city has control of the 20-acre site through a 99-year lease with the TIF Commission. In a recent city council committee meeting, planners said the city planned to sell off the land to the developer. The city expects the multi-phased project to take eight years to complete.
The land is now mostly vacant lots, save for a BP Gas Station, a billboard and an apartment complex with 20 units. Urban America has been in conversation with the private owners and hopes to acquire these sections, Hardwick said, including demolishing the deteriorating apartments.
On Thursday, the PIEA board designated the site as blighted, a step that clears the way for the agency to offer tax incentives. It’s unclear how much the developer will qualify for, though PIEA can offer sales tax exemptions and 100% property tax abatements for up to 25 years.
In a presentation on the area’s blight, Scott Belke, of Belke Appraisal & Consulting Services, pointed out a number of concerns in the 59-year-old apartments, including collapsing ceilings, crumbling walls, mold, insufficient AC and heating and other interior and exterior damage.
The owner of those apartments said he hoped to sell them to the developer.
Leaders of the nearby Research Medical Center welcomed the redevelopment project to the neighborhood.
“Research Medical Center is excited to see an investment in our community,” Ashley McClellan, CEO of Research, said in a statement. “We look forward to adding great businesses to this growing area, while being a convenient healthcare option for those businesses and their employees.”
Urban America plans to build a new apartment complex and reconfigure the gas station, officials said. The company will next take its development proposal to the Kansas City Council for approval.
On Tuesday, the city’s TIF Commission approved a procedural move to clear the way for the redevelopment.
“It has been blighted for a long time,” said TIF Commission executive director Heather Brown. “It’s high time we got something else going there.”
This story was originally published July 15, 2021 at 1:49 PM.
