KC leaders say 200-unit condo could one day be part of new Barney Allis Plaza
Examine any plans for the new Barney Allis Plaza that, for the last year, has been under construction in downtown Kansas City, and those plans will show everything — or almost everything — that the $118 million project is set to deliver:
A new 583-space underground parking garage, a 3.3-acre park the size of a full city block. There’s to be a shaded pavillion with a coffee shop and eatery, a dog park, a playground, a sloping concert and events lawn and a “flex area” for weddings or maybe ice skating.
Earlier this month, the Municipal Art Commission announced that an art duo from Belgium was given a $2.18 million contract to bring public art to the perimeter of the plaza, located between 12th and 13th and Central and Wyandotte streets. Using thin steel tubes, they are to create what amounts to “a memory” piece, the ghostly outline of the architucture of the Convention Hall that in 1899 occupied the space, before it burned to the ground and, in 90 days, was rebuilt.
Park site, underground, being prepped for larger building
What is not often shown — but what exists not only in the minds of Kansas City leaders, but also in a rendering by architecture and design firm HOK Kansas City — is the 200-or-so-unit condominium or apartment complex that city leaders hope one day might rise on the plaza’s western edge.
Kansas City Manager Mario Vasquez emphasized that, as of now, the addition of a condominum complex or other “vertical” building is purely speculative. But not so speculative that current construction at the 5-plus-acre site isn’t preparing for it.
“It is not part of the project right now,” Vasquez said, “but we have built the project so that it could be a possiblity in the future.”
Below ground, where the support columns for the parking garage and outdoor plaza are rising, the cores for elevator shafts for a future building have been constructed on the west side. Columns, too, have been poured thicker and wider to bear the greater weight of vertical construction.
“See how the columns get more dense along this edge over here as well?” HOK designer Jake Baker said on a recent site visit.
In other words, the site is being prepared now for the constructionyears from now of a multi-story building.
Condos would generate city revenue
“If it were up to me, I would go right now,” Vasquez told The Star recently. “One of the things we are trying to explore, obviously, is what is the value of that real estate now that you, more or less, have it ready to be built upon. It is definitely something we could lease or sell.
“We could create a condominium-like structure where we own the garage and the park, and somebody owns the airspace above it.”
Both the parking garage and park events are intended to generate revenue for the city. Leasing or selling space along the western edge would also bring additional revenue.
“It’s not insignificant,” Vasquez said. “In my mind, it’s a pretty big number.”
Or maybe a new entrance to Bartle Hall?
But nothing will begin soon. In fact, nothing is likely to happen until at least five years have past after the new Barney Allis is completed in the fourth quarter of 2026. That, Vasquez explained, is because the land that Barney Allis Plaza currently occupies was used previously as collatoral to underwrite the expansion of Bartle Hall.
The land is thus financially encumbered and won’t be availble to be leased or sold until 2031 or after.
“It can’t start for a little while. It’s a complicated transaction,” Vasquez said.
A condominium tower also isn’t the only idea being considered.
“I would love it as an expansion to the convention center,” Gilmore, the city director of conventions and entertainment, said. “We could go across (Central Street), make the exhibit hall bigger, have more meeting rooms, maybe another ballroom. There are lots of things that could happen.”
Including, she said, creating a new, attractive entrance.
“The convention center doesn’t have a front door today,” she said. At least not one with striking appeal.
Bartle Hall’s official entrance is at 301 W. 13th St., tucked beneath a building underpass, but it has other entrances to the south and east depending if one is at the Grand Ballroom or entering near Lowe’s Kansas City Hotel.
“It depends on where you are,” Gilmore said. She could envision a new entrance that greets visitors walking in through a redone Barney Allis Plaza.
Pavillion and public art questions
Construction on the western edge would perhaps necessiate moving or incorporating the 2,000-square foot pavillion cafe and eatery that is already planned for the site. The new public artwork, Baker of HOK said, ought not to be affected. He said, ideally, any new apartment or condominium tower would try to incorporate the art pieces into its own architectural design.
“They’re outside the footprint,” Baker said. “And, frankly, I think it’s an opportunity for the future tower to play off of them.”
