KC’s big West Bottoms revamp starts with historic warehouse becoming 121 lofts
So it’s begun.
Renovation of the first 100-plus-year-old building that is to be part of a planned $527 million transformation of Kansas City’s West Bottoms is now underway.
Interior demolition, carpentry and electric work on the seven-story Moline Plow Company building, built in 1906, and situated in the northern end of the West Bottoms, at 1015 Mulberry St., started on Aug 18, officials with the developer, New York and Nasville-based SomeraRoad, confirmed.
On Wednesday, hard-hat crews from Rau Construction, Shaw Electric Co. and New Horizons Enterprises, a demolition company, were on site. Several dumpters on the east side of the building were being filled. Windows along numerous floors had been lifted open.
Brick walls, tin ceilings, detailed columns
Once completed, in 16 to 18 months, the building is to house 121 luxury apartments incorporating the building’s character, with various apartments to have interior brick walls, tin ceilings or columns with ornate cornices. The first floor will be for retail tenants.
“It’s been a long time coming for us to get to the point where we’re doing any sort of redevelopment of historic buildings in the West Bottoms,” said Grant Hromas, SomeraRoad’s vice president of development. “The Moline building is, I think, one of the buildings with the most character and potential for redevelopment. I think it will really be the first opportunity to show off a glimpse of what’s to come in the neighborhood.”
Hromas said that within the next 60 to 90 days, they also hope to begin redevelopment of the three-story Perfection Stove Co. building, a warehouse at 1200 Union Ave. built in 1919. Its first floor is to be used for retail and entertainment, while the above floors will be for commercial tenants.
1,200 apartments, 40-room hotel, public park
Overall, the SomeraRoad project, as planned, is to be a massive undertaking.
It is a five-phase development across 21 acres and 29 properties that is likely to take 10 to 15 years. The area is a rough triangle bounded by the 12th Street viaduct to the south, the Union Pacific Railroad tracks to the north, Santa Fe Street to the east and Liberty Street to the west.
A bigger picture for the West Bottoms
When fully completed, the developers envision the area to be an urban, mixed-used quarter of retail shops, offices and 1,200 apartments created inside historic buildings as well as through new construction. There is to be a new public park and a 40-room luxury hotel created from the renovation of the 122-year-old Avery Building, 1100 Sante Fe St.
In May 2024, five months prior to the project’s official October ground-breaking, the city cleared ground for future development with the implosion of the 10-story Weld Wheel building, which stood at 933 Mulberry St. Built in phases beginning in 1910, the building was also known as the Ridenour-Bakery Grocery Co. building.
The city put $2 million toward the destruction of the Weld building. Historic tax credits are being used to redevelop the 100-plus-year-old warehouses. Tax revenues generated by the project are paying for the millions in infrastructure repair.
Six projects in phase 1
The first phase of the five-phase project includes six projects. They are to be completed on a rolling schedule through 2028 and are to include:
- Renovation of the Moline into apartments
- Renovation of the Perfection Stove building for commercial, retail and offices
- Construction of The Henning, a 290-unit luxury apartment complex with retail, commerical space and a pocket park on the site of the former Weld Wheel buildling
- Renovation of the five-story Crooks Terminal building, 1201 Union Ave, for retail and commercial use
- The Depot, a 2/3-acre public park on Santa Fe Avenue and W. 11th Street with benches and public art designed as a public gathering space
Starting in January, the city, as part of $42.3 million committment to improve infrastructure in the area, had been digging up streets, creating trenches to replace and upgrade electric, gas, telecome, sewer and storm water lines and continues to do so.
This story was originally published August 28, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
