Students pick pawpaws at this orchard in KC. It could become a parking lot

Update: The Historic Preservation Commission approved a certificate of appropriateness for the parking lot in October.

The committee considers whether construction projects in historic districts meet certain guidelines for the rehab of historic properties and found that the proposal does, as the lot is in a side yard, is set back from the front facade of the apartment building and will be screened from Maple Boulevard with landscaping.

The fig trees on the property are expected to be moved and replanted, according to information presented at a hearing.

School kids who walk to their local orchard in Pendleton Heights to pick pears, figs and pawpaws could soon see the community garden get paved over with a fresh parking lot.

The orchard fills an entire lot off Independence Avenue and Maple Boulevard, near Kansas City University, and sits on the Maple Flats apartment complex’s property. It was started around 2018 as a partnership between local service organizations Jerusalem Farm and The Giving Grove.

Maple Flats has since gone through multiple owners and is currently owned by Maple Flats KC, a firm tied to New York-based developer North American Value-Add Realty Partners. The owner is now seeking permission from the city to build a 21-space parking lot for Maple Flats residents that would replace the orchard.

The construction would occur in a historic district, so the Historic Preservation Commission has to sign off. The commission voted to delay deciding on the case at its September meeting to allow time to consider alternatives and collect more information.

Now, students at Pendleton Heights Community School, a one-room schoolhouse in the neighborhood designed for middle-grade students, are speaking out to save the orchard that they and their neighbors use to gather fresh fruit.

The students have visited the orchard regularly to understand where they live and develop a relationship with nature, said Jen Lacy, the school’s founder. When word got out about the parking lot proposal, the students organized to gather documentation and plan testimony to help make their case.

“I was planning to take them to City Hall anyway this year to show them how local government works,” Lacy said. “It was really awesome that the first time we went, it was relevant to something that they really care about. One of the commissioners, when we left, mentioned that the students’ testimony made a difference that day.”

The students counted 35 fruiting trees and bushes in the orchard. Lacy said that her own family collects figs and cherries, and leftover produce gets collected and placed in a food box for people in need.

Without the orchard, the neighborhood would lose access to a green space and a source of fresh food, she says.

Access to existing parking lot in question

But the situation may not be so clear cut. The owners of Maple Flats say an issue over a land access agreement with a different school in the neighborhood is responsible for the potential loss of the orchard.

The Maple Flats apartment building already has a parking lot with 16 spaces in the back of the complex and accessed from an alleyway off Independence Avenue, but the owner could be losing access to it.

That’s because the already existing lot isn’t technically on the apartment’s own property — it’s on land currently owned by the neighboring Scuola Vita Nuova charter school, site plans, county documents and property maps show. There’s another 5-space parking lot connected to the driveway on the same parcel as the orchard, which Maple Flats does own.

David Propis, managing partner for the apartment’s owner North American Value says the apartment owner’s lender requires providing a parking lot as part of its loan agreement, or they’d be in breach.

So without an agreement with the charter school to use the lot and driveway on the school’s property, Maple Flats has to turn to the orchard, he says.

“It would be our desire to utilize or own the driveway from Independence,” Propis said. “And if we could get those spots, we would leave that park and allow schools to come and plant and do work on it.”

Jackson County documents show that the previous owner of the school property, Central Baptist Church, approved an agreement, called an easement, in 2017 where the church would allow apartment tenants access to the larger parking lot. SVN then bought the property from the church in 2024.

The documentation of the sale from the church to the school says that the drive appeared to be serving adjacent property without the benefit of an easement.

SVN signed off on a modified agreement for use of the parking area and driveway in October 2024. But just two weeks later, SVN exercised its right to terminate the agreement and wrote that the then-Maple Flats owner was in default for failing to make payments and to maintain the area as required, a termination notice in county records says. A city report says the previous owners of the apartments terminated the easement for the alleyway.

The current Maple Flats owner, the firm tied to North American Value, bought the property in December 2024.

Propis said his firm had entered into an extension on the easement on a month-to-month basis for six months. SVN Superintendent Nicole Goodman declined to comment on the easement.

“The current owner has asked the school to create a new easement agreement or purchase part of the property, but the school rejected the offer,” the city report says.

Propis said that when his firm was working to buy the Maple Flats property, they had tried to negotiate buying the driveway and the parking spaces too, but SVN did not want a deal.

He said the only two options would be to do a deal with SVN or build the parking lot off Maple “over that beautiful field with all those fruit trees.” He said it’s the firm’s goal to be a good neighbor and help build Kansas City into what they believe it can and will be.

Goodman told The Star that the school’s board has not made any decisions regarding the property. City documents show possible expansion plans to use an existing building that was once a church for classrooms.

The parking lot request is expected to be discussed at the Oct. 24 city preservation commission meeting.

Maple Flats apartments getting renovated

As for the apartments themselves, Propis said work on Maple Flats will include repairing the roof, adding a leasing office and building a fitness center and lounge for residents.

Units are getting new flooring and appliances, paint and lighting. The property will receive fencing for extra security.

The Maple Flats will be renamed the Whitehall Lofts. They were built over 100 years ago.

The ownership group has also pursued projects on apartments in Independence, Lee’s Summit, Merriam and South Carolina.

This story was originally published October 20, 2025 at 5:33 AM.