Old Hyde Park residents try to save historic building. Has owner left it to fall apart?
Residents trying to save an historic Old Hyde Park building from demolition confronted the owner last week, saying he has purposefully let it fall into disrepair when the applications for historic designation clashed with his plans to tear it down.
Now, residents say the building needs more responsible management while its future is decided.
The Carmen Building, located at 101 W. Linwood Blvd in the Old Hyde Park neighborhood of Kansas City, is currently owned by Dr. Paramjeet Sabharwal, a neurosurgeon based in Lenexa. It has sat empty since 2022.
Sabharwal’s stated plan to demolish the site and build a 15-story building — featuring apartments and retail — has been dashed in recent months by a process to get the building registered as a historic site. In February 2024, neighbors associated with the Old Hyde Park Historic District filed for a local historic district application, putting a six-month hold on demolition plans for the Carmen Building.
Advocates for preservation organized a letter campaign in June, urging residents to write to the city planning commission on behalf of the Carmen Building. Many buildings along Main Street with similar history have already been demolished, according to a June letter from Historic Kansas City, a preservation nonprofit.
On July 5, the Kansas City Planning Commission approved the group’s nomination of the Carmen Building to the city’s registry of historic places.
In the meantime, some Carmen Building neighbors allege Sabharwal has let the building fall into ruin on purpose.
“We’re all worried you’re just going to sit on it,” Nadja Karpilow, president of the Old Hyde Park Historic District, said to Sabharwal at a meeting last Wednesday night between the developer and about a dozen residents.
“Meanwhile, there’s graffiti all over it. You’ve had the opportunity to secure it and you’re not securing it,” Karpilow said.
Trouble at the Carmen Building
In the 18 months the building has stood empty, Lynda Morse-Brown, who lives across from the Carmen Building with her husband Tom, said she and her neighbors have watched violent behavior around the property increase without consistent security.
“We see everything that happens over there,” Morse-Brown said. “We pick up the trash over there. We have people wandering in and out of our property stealing things… we’ve had crime, we’ve had increased violence, we’ve had cars broken into. Our car was written off. We’ve had drug raids.”
Residents who call 911 or 311 to report issues related to the Carmen Building are told that the city’s hands are tied unless the owner of the property is the one making the report, Old Hyde Park resident Betsy Ambrose said.
Sabharwal said Wednesday that he first purchased the building while looking for a spot to build offices for a physician friend. He was drawn to the building because of the surplus of available street parking nearby, he said.
Hyde Park has over 1,500 homes, and was a popular stop for Americans heading west to follow the Gold Rush in the 19th century, according to the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association. Karpilow described the Carmen Building as “an anchor building in our neighborhood.”
While developing plans for a fifteen-story mixed-use building with underground parking, Sabharwal said he had written off the existing structure.
“When I was buying the property, the real estate agents were talking about, ‘Yeah, people have gone through wanting to make it historic,’” Sabharwal said Wednesday.
“I didn’t pay attention to that,” he said.
Historic Kansas City, the preservation nonprofit, claims Sabharwal has actively opposed efforts to get historic status for the building. Some residents, including Morse-Brown, also claim that Sabharwal authorized the removal of fencing, air conditioning units and copper pipes, to force the building into a condemned state.
Illegal dumping and broken windows have also been particular concerns, according to Karpilow.
“The building looks like it’s been left unsecured so that people can break in so that it can be trashed,” Morse-Brown said.
For some, the state of the Carmen building isn’t just a safety issue. It’s a trust issue.
Other commercial tenants, including the Home Depot at 111 Linwood Boulevard, conducted neighborhood surveys throughout the planning process to speak with residents about their concerns, Morse-Brown said.
“Whether you build it, or someone else builds it,” Karpilow said, “it’s important to respect the character and nature of the neighborhood. This isn’t Johnson County.”
Issues in Overland Park
Sabharwal has faced similar criticism as the owner of what was previously Incred-A-Bowl at 8500 W. 151st St. in Overland Park, which he purchased after the entertainment complex closed in 2015. New plans for the building, including spaces for restaurants and a gym, are up for city council approval in August, Sabharwal said.
Overland Park residents have spoken out about their experience watching the building fall into disrepair, The Star reported, with some noting trash problems and potholes.
County records show Sabharwal currently owes upwards of $218,600 in unpaid property taxes on the building, The Star previously reported.
Complaints regarding the Incred-A-Bowl building came to a head at a July 12 meeting, The Star reported, when the building’s prospective developer was ejected from the room amid high tensions. At the meeting, Sabharwal noted that he bought the building in a state of disrepair and accused neighbors of vandalizing the property.
“My reason of buying that building was completely different,” Sabharwal said. “We sat on it just because we were hoping to get that building into a hospital.”
For Sabharwal, the biggest difference — and the biggest lesson — regarding development in Jackson County versus Johnson County has been learning to work with residents near his buildings.
“I have usually bought buildings where there was no neighborhood, so I have not gone through these things,” Sabharwal said . “I didn’t have a huge infrastructure around me to do that… but that’s not an excuse.”
Meanwhile, businesses and nonprofits in Old Hyde Park have felt the ripple effects of the Carmen Building’s fall into disrepair.
“This building’s decline requires us to make updates to our building, with security that wasn’t needed a year ago,” said Mary Kate Gliedt, executive director of the Kansas City Irish Center, which hosted last Wednesday’s meeting in its space across from the Carmen Building.
“I’m about to invest a huge amount of money on the front side of my building to make this building the showpiece it can be,” Gliedt said. “I have to know that my neighborhood is safe for me to do that in.”
A final designation
The Neighborhood Planning & Development Committee of the Kansas City council unanimously recommended Tuesday that the city issue historic status for the Carmen Building on Tuesday. A final decision will made by the full council in the coming weeks.
Sabharwal was not present at Tuesday’s meeting, where Fourth District councilmember Eric Bunch joined the call for more active oversight of the Carmen site.
“I’m really hoping to see the property owner do more in this regard and clean it up,” Bunch said. “We’re doing our part to preserve the building - and that’s me saying I’m in full support of this - but we need the propertyy owner to step up.”
If the historic site designation goes through, Sabharwal has no idea what he’s going to do with the property, he said. Though he could apply for special tax credits to update a historic building, plans would be limited by the need to preserve the original structure and zoning.
“We were already calling it a dead building,” Sabharwal said. “Now we have to come back and see what we can do with it.”
In response to neighbors’ initial feedback, plans for the site are now leaning residential, said Thomas Nolte, the architect working with Sabharwal on development of the Carmen Building.
Residents hope for apartments or retail, with future tenants who are socially invested in Old Hyde Park. In shopping districts like the Country Club Plaza, renting space to pop-up shops has been a successful way to attract attentive temporary tenants during long zoning debates, Browning noted.
Meanwhile, they’re resigned to having to watch graffiti and city-installed boards go up along the empty Carmen Building.
“This is a directly impactful challenge not only to homeowners, but to business owners who are going to be your neighbors,” Gliedt said Wednesday, addressing Sabharwal directly. “We’re not moving and we don’t intend to.”
Previous reporting by Jenna Thompson and Sarah Ritter was used in this article.
This story was originally published July 23, 2024 at 11:04 AM.
